PRINCETON,  N.  J.  \# 


Library  of  Dr.  A.  A.  Hodge.      Presented. 


BV  2070  .M85  1874 

M  uller,  F.  Max  1823-1900 

On  missions 


ON  MISSIONS 


ON  MISSIONS 


A  LECTURE 

DELIVERED  IN  WESTMINSTER  ABBEY,  ON 
DECEMBER  3,  1873. 


F.  MAX  MULLER,  M.  A., 

PROFESSOR  OF  COMPARATIVE   PHILOLOGY  AT  OXFORD. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTORY  SERMON 


ARTHUR  PENRHYN  STANLEY,  D.  D., 

DEAN   OF   WESTMINSTER. 


NEW   YORK: 
SCRIBNER,  ARMSTRONG,   AND   COMPANY. 

1874. 


RIVERSIDE,  CAMBRIDGE: 
PRINTED  BY  H.  0.  HOUGHTON  AND  COMPANY. 


THE  END  AND  THE  MEANS  OF  CHRIS- 
TIAN MISSIONS. 


Then  Agrippa  said  unto  Paul,  Almost  thou  persuadest  me  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian. And  Paul  said,  I  woidd  to  God,  that  not  only  thou,  but  also  all 
that  hear  me  this  day,  were,  both  almost  and  altogether,  such  as  I  am, 
except  these  bonds. 

'  0  6s  'A-yptTrirac  irpog  tov  Jlavlov  e(f>rj  ■  'Ev  oMyu  p.e  7rei,-&eic  Xptariavdv 
yevea-dat.  'O  5h  JlavTiog  slirsv  *  'Ev^aiuTjv  av  tcj  Qeg),  kul  ev  dTiiyu  ml 
kv  7ro/U<p  ov  fxovov  ce,  d?Jla  ical  navrag  tovc  anovovrag  [iov  G7//xepov, 
yevEofiai  tolovtovc,  brtolog  nqryla  elfu,  napsnTbg  ruv  deofiuv  rovruv.  — 
Acts  xxvi.  28,  29. 

When  I  preached  on  a  like  occasion  last  year 
I  spoke  at  some  length  of  the  Prospects  of 
Christian  Missions,1  and  I  ventured  to  give  seven 
grounds  which  the  peculiar  circumstances  of 
our  time  afforded  for  greater  confidence  in  the 
future.  First,  the  better  knowledge  of  the 
Divine  nature  acquired  by  the  extinction  of 
the  once  universal  belief  that  all  heathens 
were  everlastingly  lost ;  secondly,  the  increased 
acquaintance  with  the  heathen  religions  them- 
selves ;  thirdly,  the  instruction  which  Christian 
missionaries  have  gained  or  may  gain  from  their 
actual  experience  in  foreign  parts  \  fourthly,  the 

1  Prospects  of  Christian  Missions,  a  sermon  preached  in  West- 
minster Abbey,  on  December  20,  1872.    Strahan  &  Co.,  London. 


6  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  main  hindrance 
to  the  success  of  Christian  missions  arises  from 
the  vices  and  sins  of  Christendom ;  fifthly,  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  indirect  influences  of 
Christianity  through  legislation  and  civilization ; 
sixthly,  the  recognition  of  the  advantage  of  ex- 
act, unvarnished,  impartial  statements  of  mis- 
sionary labor  ;  seventhly,  the  testimony  borne 
by  missionary  experience  to  the  common  ele- 
ments and  essential  principles  of  the  Christian 
religion. 

On  these  —  the  peculiar  grounds  for  hope 
and  for  exertion  in  this  our  generation  —  I  refer 
to  the  observations  which  I  then  made,  and 
which  I  will  not  now  repeat. 

I  propose  on  this  occasion  to  make  a  few 
remarks  on  the  End  and  on  the  Means  of  Chris- 
tian Missions  ;  remarks  which  must  of  necessity 
be  general  in  their  import,  but  which  for  that 
reason  are  the  more  suitable  to  be  offered  by 
one  who  cannot  speak  from  personal  and  spe- 
cial experience. 

The  text  is  taken  from  a  striking  incident  in 
the  life  of  the  greatest  of  apostolic  missionaries. 
It  was  in  the  presence  of  Felix  and  Agrippa 
that  Paul  had  poured  forth  those  few  burning 
utterances  which  to  Felix  seemed  like  madness, 
but  which  Paul  himself  declared  to  be  words  of 
truth   and  soberness.      Then  it   was  that  the 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.  7 

Jewish  prince,  Agrippa  —  far  better  instructed 
than  the  heathen  Felix,  and  seeing  deeper  into 
Paul's  mind  than  he,  yet  still  unconvinced  — 
broke  in  upon  the  conversation  with  the  words 
which  in  the  English  translation  have  well  nigh 
passed  into  a  proverb,  "  Almost  thou  persuadest 
me  to  be  a  Christian."  The  sense  which  they 
thus  give  would  be  in  itself  perfectly  suitable 
to  the  halting,  fickle  character  of  the  Heroclian 
family,  and  would  accurately  describe  the  nu- 
merous half-converts  throughout  the  world  — 
"  Almost,"  but  not  quite,  u  thou  persuadest  me 
to  join  the  good  cause."  But  the  sense  which, 
by  the  nearly  universal  consent  of  modern 
scholars,  they  really  bear  in  the  original  is 
something  still  more  instructive.  The  only 
meaning  of  which  the  Greek  words  are  capable 
is  an  exclamation,  half  in  jest  and  half  in  earn- 
est, "  It  is  but  a  very  brief  and  simple  argument 
that  you  offer  to  work  so  great  a  change ;  "  or, 
if  we  may  venture  to  bring  out  the  sense  more 
fully,  "  So  few  words,  and  such  a  vast  conclu- 
sion ! "  "  So  slight  a  foundation,  and  so  gigantic 
a  superstructure  !  "  "  So  scanty  an  outfit,  and  so 
perilous  an  enterprise  ! "  The  speech  breathes 
something  of  the  spirit  of  Naaman,  when  he 
was  told  to  wash  in  the  Jordan  —  "Are  not 
Abana  and  Pharpar  better  than  all  the  waters 
of  Israel?"     It  is   like  the  complaint  of  the 


8  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

popular  prophets  in  the  time  of  Hezekiah,  whose 
taste  demanded  stronger  flavor  than  the  noble 
simplicity  of  Isaiah,  "  Line  upon  line,  precept 
upon  precept."  It  breathes  the  spirit  of  the 
Ephesian  Christians  who,  when  they  heard  St. 
John's  repeated  maxim  of  "Little  children,  love 
one  another,"  said,  u  Is  this  all  that  he  has  to 
tell  us  ? "  It  expresses  the  spirit  of  many  an 
one  since,  who  has  stumbled  at  the  threshold  of 
the  genuine  Gospel  —  "  So  vague,  so  simple,  so 
universal.  Is  this  worth  the  sacrifice  that  you 
demand  ?  Give  us  a  demonstrative  argument, 
a  vast  ceremonial,  a  complex  system,  a  uniform 
government.     Nothing  else  will  satisfy  us." 

As  Agrippa's  objection,  so  is  Paul's  answer. 
It  would  have  indeed  borne  a  good  sense  had 
he  meant  what  in  our  English  version  he  is 
made  to  say,  "  I  would  that  both  i  almost  and 
altogether.'  Halfness  or  wholeness  —  I  admire 
them  both.  Half  a  soul  is  better  than  none  at 
all.  To  have  come  half  way  is  better  than 
never  to  have  started  at  all ;  but  half  is  only 
good,  because  it  leads  towards  the  whole." 
Nevertheless,  following  the  real  meaning  of 
Agrippa's  remark,  St.  Paul's  retort,  in  fact, 
bears  a  yet  deeper  significance  —  "I  would 
to  God,  that  whether  by  little  or  by  much, 
whether  by  brief  arguments  or  by  long  argu- 
ments, somehow   and  somewhere,  the  change 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.  9 

were  wrought.  The  means  to  me  are  compar- 
atively nothing,  so  long  as  the  end  is  accom- 
plished." It  is  the  same  spirit  as  that  which 
dictated  the  noble  expression  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Philippians :  "  Some  preach  Christ  of 
envy  and  strife,  some  also  of  good  will.  The 
one  preach  Christ  of  contention,  the  other  of 
love.  What  then  ?  notwithstanding,  every 
way,  whether  in  pretense  or  in  truth,  Christ  is 
preached."  1 

And  then  he  proceeds  to  vindicate  the  end 
which  makes  him  indifferent  as  to  the  means. 
Agrippa,  in  his  brief  taunt,  had  said,  "  Such  are 
the  arguments  by  which  you  would  fain  make 
me  a  Christian"  It  is  one  of  the  few,  one  of 
the  only  three,  occasions  on  which  that  glorious 
name  is  used  in  the  New  Testament.  It  is  here 
charged  not  with  the  venerable  meaning  which 
we  now  attach  to  it,  but  with  the  novel  and 
degrading  associations  which  it  bore  in  the 
mouth  of  every  Jew  and  every  Roman  at  that 
time  —  of  Tacitus  or  Josephus,  no  less  than  of 
Felix  or  Agrippa.  "  Is  it,"  so  the  king  meant 
to  say,  "is  it  that  you  think  to  make  me  a 
Christian,  a  member  of  that  despised,  heretical, 
innovating  sect,  of  which  the  very  name  is  a 
sufficient  condemnation  ?  " 

It  is  only  by  bearing  this  in  mind  that  we 

l  Phil.  i.  13-16 


10  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

see  the  force  of  St.  Paul's  answer.  He  does 
not  insist  on  the  word  ;  he  does  not  fight  even 
for  this  sacred  title ;  he  does  not  take  it  up  as 
a  pugnacious  champion  might  take  up  the 
glove  which  his  adversary  had  thrown  down ; 
he  does  not  say,  "  I  would  that  thou  wast  a 
Christian.''  In  his  answer  he  bears  his  testimony 
to  one  of  the  gravest,  the  most  fruitful,  of  all 
theological  truths  —  that  it  is  not  the  name 
but  the  thing,  not  the  form  but  the  reality,  on 
which  stress  must  be  laid ;  and  he  gives  the 
most  lucid,  heartstirring  illustration  of  what 
the  reality  is.  "  I  would  that  not  only  thou,  but 
all  those  who  hear  me  were  —  what  is  no  am- 
biguous catchword  or  byword,  but  —  what  you 
see  before  you ;  I  would  that  you  all  were  such 
as  I  am  —  such  as  I  am,  upheld  by  the  hopes 
filled  with  the  affections,  that  sustain  my 
charmed  existence;"  and  then,  with  that  ex- 
quisite courtesy  which  characterizes  so  many 
traits  of  the  Apostle's  history,  glancing  at  the 
chains  which  bound  him  to  the  Roman  guard 
—  " '  except  these  bonds.'  This,  whether  you 
call  it  Christian  or  not,  is  what  I  desire  to  see 
you  and  all  the  world."  "  You  see  it  before  you 
in  the  life,  the  character,  the  spirit,  of  one  who 
knows  what  Christianity  is,  and  who  wishes  that 
all  his  fellow-creatures  should  partake  of  the 
happiness  that  he  has  gained,  repose    on    the 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.  11 

same  principles  that  give  him  strength."  This, 
then,  is  the  statement  of  the  greatest  of  mis- 
sionaries, both  as  to  the  end  which  he  sought 
to  attain,  and  the  means  by  which  he  and  we 
should  seek  to  attain  it. 

I.  Let  us  first  take  the  End :  ci  Such  as  I  am, 
except  these  bonds."  That  is  the  state  to 
which  St.  Paul  desired  to  bring  all  those  who 
heard  him.  That,  according  to  him,  was  the 
description  of  a  Christian.  No  doubt  if  he  had 
been  pressed  yet  further,  he  would  have  said 
that  he  meant,  "Such  as  Jesus  Christ,  my 
Lord."  But  he  was  satisfied  with  taking  such 
a  living,  human,  imperfect  exemplification  as 
he  whom  Felix  and  Agrippa  saw  in  their  pres- 
ence. "  Such  as  Paul  was  ; "  where  is  no  am- 
biguous definition,  no  obsolete  form.  We  know 
what  manner  of  man  he  was,  even  better  than 
Felix  or  Agrippa  knew.  Look  at  him  with  all 
his  characteristic  peculiarities ;  a  man  passion- 
ately devoted  to  his  own  faithful  friends,  and 
clinging  to  the  reminiscences  of  his  race  and 
country,  yet  with  a  heart  open  to  embrace  all 
mankind ;  a  man  combining  the  strongest  con- 
victions with  an  unbounded  toleration  of  differ- 
ences, and  an  unbounded  confidence  in  turth ; 
a  man  penetrated  with  the  freedom  of  the 
Spirit,  but  with  a  profound  appreciation  of  the 
value  of  great   existing   institutions    whether 


12  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

civil  or  religious  —  a  thorough  Eoman  citizen 
and  a  thorough  Eastern  gentleman ;  a  career 
of  daring  fortitude  and  endurance,  undertaken 
in  the  strength  of  the  persuasion  that  in  Jesus 
Christ  of  Nazareth  he  had  seen  the  highest 
perfection  of  Divine  and  human  goodness  —  a 
Master  worth  living  for  and  worth  dying  for, 
whose  Spirit  was  to  be  the  regenerating  power 
of  the  whole  world.  This  character,  this  con- 
dition it  was  to  which  St.  Paul  desired  that  his 
hearers  should  be  brought.  One  only  reserva- 
tion he  makes  ;  "  except  these  bonds,"  except 
those  limitations,  those  circumscriptions,  those 
vexations,  those  irritations,  which  belonged  to 
the  suffering,  toil-worn  circumstances  in  which 
he  was  at  that  moment  placed. 

Such  is  the  aim  which,  following  the  example 
of  their  most  illustrious  predecessor,  all  mis- 
sionaries ought  to  have  before  their  eyes.  To 
create,  to  preach,  to  exhibit  those  traits  of 
character,  those  apostolical  graces,  those  Divine 
intuitions,  which  even  the  hard  Roman  magis- 
trate and  the  superficial  Jewish  prince  recog- 
nized in  Paul  of  Tarsus.  Where  these  are, 
there  is  Christianity.  In  proportion  as  any  of 
these  are  attained,  in  that  proportion  has  a 
human  being  become  a  Christian.  Wherever 
and  in  proportion  as  these  are  not,  there  the 
missionary's  labor  has  failed  —  there  the  seed 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.  13 

has  been  sown  to  no  purpose — there  the  name 
of  Christian  may  be,  but  the  reality  is  not. 

This  preeminence  of  the  object  of  Christian 
missions,  —  namely,  the  formation  of  heroic, 
apostolic,  and  therefore  Christian  characters, 
— has  a  wide  practical  importance.  In  these 
days  —  when  there  is  so  much  temptation  to 
dwell  on  the  scaffolding,  the  apparatus,  the  or- 
ganization of  religion,  as  though  it  were  religion 
itself —  it  is  doubly  necessary  to  bear  in  mind 
what  true  Religion  is,  wherein  lies  the  essential 
superiority  of  Christianity  to  all  the  other  forms 
of  religion  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  It  is 
not  merely  the  baptism  of  thousands  of  infants, 
such  as  filled  a  large  part  of  the  aspirations 
even  of  so  great  a  missionary  as  Francis 
Xavier ;  nor  the  adoption  of  the  name  of  Christ, 
as  was  done  on  so  vast  a  scale  by  the  ferocious 
rebels  of  China ;  nor  the  repetition,  with  ever 
so  much  accuracy,  of  the  Christian  creed,  as 
was  done  by  the  pretended  converts  from  Mo- 
hammedanism or  Judaism,  under  the  terrible 
compulsion  of  the  Catholic  sovereigns  of  Spain. 
Nor  is  it  the  assurance,  ever  so  frequently  re- 
peated, that  we  are  saved ;  nor  is  it  the  absolu- 
tion, ever  so  solemnly  pronounced  by  a  priest ; 
nor  is  it  the  shedding  of  floods  of  tears ;  nor  is 
it  the  adoption  of  voluntary  self-degradation  or 
solitary  seclusion.     All  these  may  be  found  in 


14  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

other  religions  in  as  great,  or  even  greater 
force,  than  in  Christianity.  That  which  alone? 
if  anything,  stamps  Christianity  as  the  supreme 
religion,  is  that  its  essence,  its  object,  is  in  none 
of  these  things,  valuable  as  some  of  them  may 
be  as  signs  and  symptoms  of  the  change  which 
every  mission  is  intended  to  effect.  The  change 
itself,  the  end  itself,  Christianity  itself,  is  at  once 
greater  and  simpler.  It  is  to  be  such  as  Paul 
was ;  it  is  to  produce  characters,  which  in  truth- 
fulness, in  independence,  in  mercy,  in  purity, 
in  charity,  may  recall  something  of  the  great 
Apostle,  even  as  he  recalled  something  of  the 
mind  which  was  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  was  this 
clear  vision  of  what  he  desired  to  see  as  the 
fruits  of  his  teaching  that  made  St.  Paul 
so  ready  to  admire  whatsoever  things  were 
lovely  and  of  good  report  wherever  he  found 
them.  In  Gentile  or  in  Jew,  in  heathen  or 
in  Christian,  he  recognized  at  once  the  spirits 
kindred  to  his  own,  and  welcomed  them  accord- 
ingly. He  felt  that  he  could  raise  them  yet 
higher;  but  he  was  eager  to  claim  them  as 
his  brethren  even  from  the  first.1  Even  in  the 
legends  which  surround  his  history  there  has 
been  preserved  something  of  this  genuine  apos- 

1  Acts  xiv.  16,  17  ;  xvii.  23,  28  ;  xix.  37;  xxi.  26  ;  xxii.  28  ; 
xxv.  11.  Rom.  ii.  6-15;  xiii.  1-7  ;  xiv.  6.  1  Cor.  ix.  20-22; 
xv.  33.     Phil.  iv.  8. 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.  15 

tolic  sympathy.  It  was  a  fine  touch  in  the 
ancient  Latin  hymn  which  described  how,  when 
he  landed  at  Puteoli,  he  turned  aside  to  the 
hill  of  Pausilipo  to  shed  a  tear  over  the  tomb 
of  Virgil,  and  thought  how  much  he  might 
have  made  of  that  noble  soul  if  he  had  found 
him  still  on  earth  : — 

"  Ad  Maronis  mausoleum 
Ductus,  fudit  super  eum 

Pise  rorem  lacrymae  — 
Quantum,  dixit,  te  fecissem 
Si  te  vivum  invenissem, 
Poetarum  maxime." 

It  was  this  which  made  him  cling  with  such 
affectionate  interest  to  his  converts,  to  his 
friends,  to  his  sons,  as  he  calls  them,  in  Christ 
Jesus.  All  that  he  sought,  all  that  he  looked 
for  in  them,  was  that  they  should  show  in  their 
characters  the  seal  of  the  spirit  that  animated 
himself.  Whether  they  derived  this  character 
from  himself  or  from  Apollos  or  Cephas  he 
cared  not  to  ask.  He  was  their  pupil  as  much 
as  their  master.  He  disclaimed  all  dominion 
over  their  independent  faith ;  he  claimed  only 
to  be  a  helper  in  their  joy. 

This  reproduction  of  Paul  —  this  reproduc- 
tion of  all  that  is  best  in  ourselves  or  better 
than  ourselves  —  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
mankind,  is  the  true  work  of  the  Christian  mis- 
sionary ;  and,  in  order  to  do  this,  he  must  be 


16  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

himself  that  which  he  wishes  to  impress  upon 
them  in  humility,  goodness,  courtesy,  and  holi- 
ness, except  only  the  straitening  bonds  which 
cramp  or  confine  each  separate  character,  na- 
tion, and  church.  No  disparager  of  Christian 
missions  can  dispute  this  —  no  champion  of 
Christian  missions  need  go  beyond  this.  When, 
in  the  last  century,  the  Danish  missionary, 
Schwarz,  was  pursuing  his  labors  at  Tanjore, 
and  the  Rajah  Hyder  Ali  desired  to  treat  with 
the  English  Government,  he  said :  "  Do  not 
send  to  me  any  of  your  agents,  for  I  trust 
neither  their  words  nor  their  treaties.  But 
send  to  me  the  missionary  of  whose  character 
I  hear  so  much  from  every  one ;  him  will  I 
receive  and  trust."  That  was  the  electrifying, 
vivifying  effect  of  the  apparition  of  such  an  one 
as  Paul  —  "a  man  who  had  indeed  done  noth- 
ing worthy  of  bonds  or  of  death  "  —  a  man  in 
whose  entire  disinterestedness  and  in  whose 
transparent  honor  the  image  and  superscription 
of  his  Master  was  written  so  that  no  one  could 
mistake  it.  "  In  every  nation,  he  that  feareth 
God  and  worketh  righteousness  "  is  the  noblest 
work  of  God  our  Creator  —  the  most  precious 
result  of  human  endeavor.  If  any  such  by  mis- 
sionary efforts,  either  convert  or  teacher,  either 
direct  or  indirect,  have  been  produced,  then  the 
prayers  uttered,  the  labors  inspired,  the  hopes 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.  17 

expressed  in  these  and  like  services  have  not 
been  altogether  in  vain.  One  of  the  most 
striking  facts  to  which  our  attention  has  been 
called  as  demanding  our  thankfulness  on  this 
day  is  the  solemn  testimony  borne  by  the  Gov- 
ernment of  India  to  the  fruits  of  u  the  blame- 
less lives  and  self-denying  labors  of  their  six 
hundred  Protestant  missionaries."  And  what 
are  those  fruits  ?  Not  merely  the  adoption  of 
this  or  that  outward  form  of  Christianity  by 
this  or  that  section  of  the  Indian  community. 
It  is  something  which  is  in  appearance  less,  but 
in  reality  far  greater  than  this.  It  is  something 
less  like  the  question  of  Agrippa,  but  far  more 
like  the  answer  of  Paul.  It  is  that  they  have 
"  infused  new  vigor  into  the  stereotyped  life 
of  the  vast  populations  placed  under  English 
rule  ; "  it  is  that  they  are  "  preparing  those 
populations  to  be  in  every  way  better  men  and 
better  citizens  of  the  great  Empire  under  which 
they  dwell."  That  is  a  verdict  on  which  we  can 
rest  with  the  assurance  that  it  is  not  likely  to  be 
reversed.  Individual  conversions  may  relapse 
—  may  be  accounted  for  by  special  motives ; 
but  long-sustained,  wide-reaching  changes  of 
the  whole  tenor  and  bent  of  a  man  or  of  a  na- 
tion are  beyond  suspicion.  When  we  see  the 
immovable  and,  as  the  official  document  says, 
"  the  stereotyped  "  forms  of  Indian  life  reani- 

2 


18  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

mated  with  a  vigor  unknown  to  the  Oriental 
races  in  earlier  days,  this  is  a  regeneration  as 
surprising  as  that  wrhich,  to  a  famous  missionary 
of  the  past  generation,  seemed  as  impossible  as 
the  restoration  of  a  mummy  to  life  —  namely, 
the  conversion  of  a  single  Brahmin. 

This,  then,  is  the  End  of  Christian  missions, 
whether  to  heathens  or  to  Christians,  namely, 
to  make  better  men  and  better  citizens  —  to 
raise  the  whole  of  society  by  inspiring  it  with  a 
higher  view  of  duty,  with  a  stronger  sense  of 
truth  ;  with  a  more  powerful  conviction  that 
only  by  goodness  and  truth  can  God  be  ap- 
proached or  Christ  be  served  —  that  God  is 
goodness  and  truth,  and  that  Christ  is  the 
Image  of  God,  because  He  is  goodness  and 
truth.  If  this  be  the  legitimate  result  of  Chris- 
tianity, no  further  arguments  are  needed  to 
prove  that  it  contains  a  light  which  is  worth 
imparting,  and  which,  whenever  it  is  imparted, 
vindicates  its  heavenly  origin  and  its  heaven- 
ward tendency. 

II.  This  is  the  End ;  and  now  what  are  the 
Cleans  ?  They  are  what  we  might  expect  in 
the  view  of  so  great  an  end.  Anything  (so  the 
Apostle  tells  us),  be  it  small  or  great,  short  or 
long,  scanty  or  ample ;  the  manners  of  a  Jew 
for  Jews,  the  manners  of  a  Gentile  for  Gentiles, 
"  all  things  for  all  men," 1  are  worth  considering^ 

1  1  Cor.  ix.  20-22. 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.  19 

if  "by  any  of  these  means  he  might  save,"  that 
is,  elevate,  sanctify,  purify,  any  of  those  to 
whom  he  spoke.  When  we  reflect  upon  the 
many  various  efforts  to  do  good  in  this  mani- 
fold world — the  multitude  of  sermons,  societies, 
agencies,  excitements,  which  to  some  seem  as 
futile  and  fruitless  as  to  others  they  seem  pre- 
cious and  important  —  it  is  a  true  consolation 
to  bear  in  mind  the  Apostle's  wise  and  gener- 
ous maxim,  "  Whether  by  little  or  by  much, 
whether  in  pretense  or  in  truth,  whether  of 
strife  or  of  good-will,  Christ  is  preached,  and  I 
therein  do  rejoice,  yea,  and  will  rejoice."  It  may 
be  by  a  short,  sudden,  electric  shock,  or  it  may 
be  by  a  long  course  of  civilizing,  humanizing 
tendencies.  It  may  be  by  a  single  text,  such 
as  that  which  awoke  the  conscience  of  Augus- 
tine; or  a  single  interview,  like  Justin's  with 
the  unknown  philosopher ;  or  it  may  be  by  a 
long  systematic  treatise  —  Butler's  "  Analogy," 
or  Lardner's  "  Credibilia,"  or  the  "  Institutes" 
of  Calvin,  or  the  u  Summa  Theologize "  of 
Aquinas.  It  may  be  by  the  sudden  flush  of 
victory  in  battle,  such  as  convinced  Clovis  on 
the  field  of  Tolbiac ;  or  the  argument  of  a 
peaceful  conference,  such  as  convinced  our  own 
Ethelbert.  It  may  be  by  teachers  steeped  in 
what  was  by  half  the  Christian  world  regarded 
as  deadly  heresy,   such  as  the   Arian   Bishop 


20  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

Ulfilas,  by  whom  were  converted  to  the  faith 
those  mighty  Gothic  tribes  which  formed  the 
first  elements  of  European  Christendom,  and 
whose  good  deeds  Augustine  regarded,  not- 
withstanding their  errors,  as  the  glory  of  the 
Christian  name.1  It  may  be  by  teachers  as 
immersed  in  strange  and  fanciful  superstitions, 
now  repudiated  by  the  civilized  world,  as  was 
the  famous  "Roman  Pontiff  who  sent  the  first 
missionaries  to  these  shores.  Sometimes  the 
change  has  been  effected  by  the  sight  of  a 
single  picture,  as  when  Vladimir  of  Russia  was 
shown  the  representation  of  the  Last  Judg- 
ment, —  sometimes  by  a  dream  or  a  sign, 
known  only  to  those  who  were  affected  by  it, 
such  as  the  vision  of  the  Cross  which  arrested 
Constantine  on  his  way  to  Eome,  or  changed 
Colonel  Gardiner's  dissolute  youth  to  a  man- 
hood of  strict  and  sober  piety.  Sometimes  it 
has  been  by  the  earnest  preaching  of  mis- 
sionaries, confessedly  ill-educated  and  ill-pre- 
pared for  the  work  which  they  had  to  accom- 
plish ;  sometimes  by  the  slow  infiltration  of 
Christian  literature  and  Christian  civilization  ; 

1  In  the  well-known  passage  where,  speaking  of  their  modera- 
tion and  humanity  in  the  capture  of  Rome,  he  concludes  :  "  Hoc 
Christi  nomini,  hoc  Christiano  tempori  tribuendum  quisquis  non 
videt,  csecus  ;  quisquis  non  laudat,  ingratus  ;  quisquis  laudanti 
reluctatur,  ingratus  est."  —  Be  Civitate  Bet,  i.  c.  7.  Compare 
Ibid.  c.  1,  and  Sermon  cv.,  De  Ev.  S.  Luc. 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.  21 

the  grandeur,  in  old  days,  of  Borne  and  Con- 
stantinople ;  in  our  days,  the  superiority  of 
European  genius,  the  spread  of  English  com- 
merce, the  establishment  of  just  laws,  pure 
homes,  merciful  institutions. 

We  clo  not  say  that  all  these  means  are 
equally  good  or  equally  efficacious.  St.  Paul, 
in  his  argument  with  Agrippa,  did  not  mean  to 
say  that  "  almost  and  altogether,"  that  "  much 
and  little,"  were  the  same  ;  he  did  not  mean 
that  it  was  equally  good  that  Christ  should  be 
preached  in  strife  or  in  good-will ;  he  did  not 
mean  that  a  good  end  justified  bad  means,  or 
that  we  may  clo  evil  that  good  may  come ;  he 
did  not  mean  to  justify  the  falsehoods  which  are 
profanely  called  pious  frauds,  nor  the  persecu- 
tions which  have  been  set  on  foot  by  those  who 
thought  to  do  God  service,  or  the  attempt  to 
stimulate  artificial  excitement  by  undermining 
the  moral  strength  and  manly  independence 
of  the  human  spirit.  God  forbid  !  But  what  he 
meant,  and  what  we  mean  with  him,  is  this  : 
In  true  Christian  missions,  in  the  conversion  of 
human  souls  from  dead  works,  from  sin,  from 
folly,  from  barbarism,  from  har  mess,  from  self- 
ishness, to  goodness  and  purity,  justice  and 
truth,  the  field  is  so  vast,  the  diversity  of  char- 
acter in  men  and  nations  is  so  infinite,  the  en- 
terprise so  arduous,  the  aspects  of  Divine  truth 


22  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

so  various,  that  it  is  on  the  one  hand  a  duty 
for  each  one  to  follow  out  that  particular  means 
of  conversion  which  seems  to  him  most  effica- 
cious, and  on  the  other  hand  to  acquiesce  in  the 
converging  use  of  many  means  which  cannot,  by 
the  nature  of  the  case,  appear  equally  efficacious 
to  every  one.  Such  a  toleration,  such  an  adop- 
tion of  the  different  modes  of  carrying  on  what 
John  Bunyan  called  the  Holy  War,  the  Siege 
of  Man's  Soul,  must  indeed  be  always  con- 
trolled by  the  determination  to  keep  the  high, 
paramount,  universal  end  always  in  view;  by 
the  vigilant  endeavor  to  repress  the  exaggera- 
tion, to  denounce  the  follies  and  the  falsehoods 
which  infect  even  the  best  attempts  of  narrow 
and  fallible,  though  good  and  faithful,  servants 
of  their  Lord.  But,  if  once  we  have  this  fixed 
in  our  minds,  it  then  surely  becomes  a  solace  to 
remember  that  the  soul  of  man  is  won  by  a 
thousand  different  approaches  —  that  thus  the 
instruments  which  often  seem  most  unworthy 
may  yet  serve  to  produce  a  result  far  above 
themselves  —  that  when  "we  have  toiled  all 
night  and  taken  nothing  "  by  keeping  close  to 
the  shore,  or  by  throwing  out  our  nets  always 
on  one  side,  yet  if  we  have  courage  "  to  launch 
out  into  the  deep,  and  cast  out  our  nets  on  the 
other  side  of  the  ship,"  we  shall  "  inclose  a 
great  multitude  of  fishes,  so  that  the  net  shall 
break." 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.  23 

He  is  a  traitor  to  the  cause  who  exalts  the 
means  above  the  end,  or  who  seeks  an  end  alto- 
gether different  from  that  to  which  his  alle- 
giance binds  him ;  but  he  is  not  a  traitor,  but  a 
faithful  soldier,  who  makes  the  best  use  of  all 
the  means  that  are  placed  in  his  hands.  Long 
after  the  imperfect  instruments  have  perished 
the  results  will  endure,  and  in  forms  wholly  un- 
like the  insufficiency  or  the  meagreness  of  the 
first  propelling  cause.  The  preaching  of  Henry 
Martyn  may  have  been  tinged  by  a  zeal  often 
not  according  to  knowledge  ;  but  the  savor  of 
his  holy  and  self-denying  life  has  passed  like 
a  sweet-smelling  incense  through  the  whole 
frame-work  of  Indian  society.  "  Even,"  so  he 
said  himself,  "  if  I  should  never  see  a  native 
converted,  God  may  design  by  my  patience  and 
continuance  in  the  work  to  encourage  future 
missionaries." 

The  more  profoundly  we  are  impressed  with 
the  degradation  of  the  heathen  nations,  with 
the  corruption  of  the  Christian  churches,  the 
more  thankful  should  we  be  for  any  attempts, 
however  slight  and  however  various,  to  quicken 
the  sluggish  mass,  and  enlighten  the  blackness 
of  the  night,  provided  only  that  the  mass  is 
permanently  quickened,  and  the  darkness  is  in 
any  measure  dispelled.  "  I  have  lived  too  long," 
said  Lord  Macaulay  on  his  return  from  India  to 


24  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

England,  "  I  have  lived  too  long  in  a  country 
where  people  worship  cows,  to  think  much  of 
the  differences  which  part  Christians  from  Chris- 
tians." And,  in  fact,  as  the  official  report  to 
which  I  have  referred  testifies  in  strong  terms, 
the  presence  of  the  great  evils  which  Indian 
missionaries  have  to  confront,  has  often  pro- 
duced in  them  a  noble  and  truly  Christian  in- 
difference to  the  trivial  divergences  between 
themselves.  "Even  a  one-eyed  man,"  says  the 
proverb,  "  is  a  king  amongst  the  blind."  Even 
the  shepherd's  sling  may  perchance  smite  down 
the  Goliath  of  Gath.  The  rough  sledge-hammer 
of  a  rustic  preacher  may  strike  home,  where 
the  most  polished  scholar  would  plead  in  vain. 
The  calm  judgment  of  the  wise  and  good,  or 
the  silent  example,  or  the  understanding  sym- 
pathy, or  the  wide  survey  of  the  whole  field  of 
the  religions  of  mankind,  may  awaken  con- 
victions which  all  the  declamations  of  all  the 
churches  would  fail  to  arouse. 

The  misery  of  the  war  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
the  terrible  prospect  of  the  Indian  famine,  may 
furnish  the  very  opening  which  we  most  desire. 
They  may  be  the  very  touchstones  by  which 
these  suffering  heathens  will  test  the  practical 
efficiency  of  a  Christian  government  and  a 
Christian  nation,  of  Christian  missionaries  and 
Christian  people,  and,  having  so  tested  it,  will 
judge. 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.  25 

When  the  first  Napoleon  suddenly  found 
himself  among  the  quicksands  of  the  Red  Sea, 
he  ordered  his  generals  to  ride  out  in  so  many 
opposite  directions,  and  the  first  who  arrived 
on  firm  ground  to  call  on  the  rest  to  follow. 
This  is  what  we  may  ask  of  all  the  various 
schemes  and  agencies  —  all  the  various  in 
quiries  after  truth  now  at  work  in  all  the  dif 
ferent  branches  and  classes  of  Christendom 
— "  Eide  out  amongst  those  quicksands  !  Ride 
out  in  the  most  opposite  directions,  and  let  him 
that  first  finds  solid  ground  call  out  to  us  !  It 
may  perchance  be  the  very  ground  in  the  midst 
of  this  quaking  morass  where  we  shall  be  able 
to  stand  firm  and  move  the  world." 

There  is  one  special  variety  of  means  which 
I  would  venture  to  name  in  conclusion.  Ever 
since  the  close  of  the  Apostolic  age  there  have 
been  two  separate  agencies  in  the  Christian 
Church  by  which  the  work  of  conversion  has 
been  carried  on.  The  chief,  the  recognized,  the 
ordinary  agency  has  been  that  of  the  clergy. 
Every  pastor,  every  presbyter,  every  bishop  in 
the  Church  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  again  in 
the  beginning  of  Christian  Europe  was,  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  word,  a  missionary ;  and  al- 
though their  functions  have  in  these  latter  days 
been  for  the  most  part  best  fulfilled  by  follow- 
ing their  stationary,  fixed,  pastoral  charges,  yet 


26  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

it  is  still  from  their  ranks  in  all  the  different 
churches  that  the  noble  army  of  missionaries 
and  martyrs  in  foreign  lands  has  been,  and  is, 
and  must  be  recruited.  Most  unwise  and  un- 
worthy would  be  any  word  which  should  under- 
rate the  importance  of  this  mighty  element  in 
the  work  of  renewing  the  face  of  the  earth. 
But  there  has  always  been  recognized,  more  or 
less  distinctly,  the  agency  of  Christian  laymen 
in  this  same  work  of  evangelization.  Not  only 
in  that  more  general  sense  in  which  I  have 
already  indicated  the  effect  of  the  laws,  and 
literature,  and  influence  of  Christian  Europe 
—  not  only  in  that  unquestionable  sense  in 
which  the  best  of  all  missionaries  is  a  high- 
minded  governor,  or  an  upright  magistrate,  or 
a  devout  and  pure-minded  soldier,  who  is  al- 
ways "  trusting  in  God  and  doing  his  duty ; " 
not  only  in  these  senses  do  we  look  for  the  co- 
operation of  laymen,  but  also  in  the  more  direct 
forms  of  instruction,  of  intelligent  and  far-seeing 
interest  in  labors,  which,  though  carried  on 
mainly  by  the  clergy,  must,  if  they  xare  to  be 
good  for  anything,  concern  all  mankind  alike. 
In  the  early  centuries  of  Christianity  the  aid  of 
laymen  was  freely  invoked  and  freely  given  in 
this  great  cause.  Such  was  Origen,  the  most 
learned  and  the  most  gifted  of  the  Fathers,  who 
preached  as  a  layman  in  the  presence  of  pres- 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.  27 

byters  and  bishops.  Such  was  one  of  the  first 
evangelizers  of  India,  Pantasnus ;  such  was 
the  hermit  Telemachus,  whose  earnest  protest, 
aided  by  his  heroic  death,  extinguished  at  Borne 
the  horrors  of  the  gladiatorial  games ;  such  was 
Antony,  the  mighty  preacher  in  the  wilds  of 
the  Thebaid  and  the  streets  of  Alexandria ; 
such,  in  later  days,  was  Francis  of  Assisi,  when 
first  he  began  his  career  as  the  most  famous 
preacher  of  the  Middle  Ages  ;  such,  just  before 
the  Eeformation,  was  our  own  Sir  Thomas 
More.1  In  these  instances,  as  in  many  others, 
the  influence,  the  learning,  the  zeal  of  laymen 
was  directly  imported  into  the  work  of  Chris- 
tianizing the  nations  of  Europe.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  we,  in  our  age  also,  so  far  as  the 
law  and  order  of  our  churches  permit,  have  fre- 
quently received  the  assistance  of  laymen ; 
who,  by  the  weight  of  their  character  or  their 
knowledge,  can  render  a  fresh  testimony,  or 
throw  a  fresh  light  on  subjects  where  we,  the 
clergy,  should  perhaps  be  heard  less  willingly. 
As  their  voices  have  been  raised  on  this  sacred 
subject  of  missions  in  many  a  humbe  parish 

1  "  Sir  Thomas  More  after  he  was  called  to  the  Bar  in  Lin- 
coln's Inn  did,  for  a  considerable  time,  read  a  public  lecture 
out  of  St.  Augustine  De  Civitate  Dei,  in  the  Church  of  St.  Law- 
rence in  the  Old  Jewry,  to  which  the  learneder  sort  of  the 
City  of  London  did  resort."  —  Wood's  Atlience  Oxonienses,  fol. 
ed.  1721,  pp.  182,  183. 


28  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

church ;  as  also  on  other  sacred  topics,  such  as 
Christian  art  and  history,  their  words  have  often 
been  heard  within  the  consecrated  walls  of  this 
and  other  great  abbeys  and  cathedrals,  —  so 
we  shall  have  the  privilege  of  listening  this 
evening  in  the  nave  of  this  church  to  a  scholar 
renowned  throughout  the  world,  whose  knowl- 
edge of  all  heathen  religions  in  connection  with 
the  experience  of  Christian  missions  probably 
exceeds  that  of  any  other  single  person  in 
Europe  —  in  the  hope  that  a  more  systematic 
form  may  thus  be  given  to  our  knowledge,  and 
a  more  concentrated  direction  to  our  zeal. 

I  conclude  by  once  more  applying  the  Apos- 
tle's words  to  the  Means  and  the  End  of  Chris- 
tian missions.  We  would  to  God  that  whether 
by  little  or  by  much,  whether  by  sudden  stroke 
or  by  elaborate  reasoning,  whether  in  a  brief 
moment  or  by  long  process  of  years,  whether 
by  the  fervor  of  active  clergy,  or  by  the  learn- 
ing of  impartial  laymen,  whether  by  illiterate 
simplicity  or  by  wide  philosophy  —  not  only 
those  who  hear  me,  but  all  on  whom  the  ser- 
vices of  this  day,  far  and  near,  have  any  influ- 
ence, may  become,  at  least  in  some  degree, 
such  as  was  Paul  the  Apostle,  such  as  have  been 
the  wisest  and  best  of  Christian  missionaries, 
except  only  those  bonds  which  belong  to  time 
and   place,  not  to  the  Eternal  Spirit  and  the 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.  29 

Everlasting  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  can- 
not wish  a  better  wish  or  pray  a  better  prayer 
to  God  on  this  clay  than  that  amongst  the  mis- 
sionaries who  teach,  amongst  the  heathens  who 
hear,  there  should  be  raised  up  men  who  should 
exhibit  that  type  of  Christian  truth  and  of 
Christian  life  which  was  seen  by  Felix  and 
Agrippa  in  Paul  of  Tarsus.  May  the  Giver 
of  all  good  gifts  give  to  us  some  portion  of  his 
cheerful  and  manly  faith,  of  his  fearless  energy, 
of  his  horror  of  narrowness  and  superstition, 
of  his  love  for  God  and  for  mankind,  of  his  ab- 
solute faith  in  the  triumph  of  his  Redeemer's 
cause.  May  God  our  Father  waken  in  us  the 
sense  that  we  are  all  his  children ;  may  the 
whole  earth  become  more  and  more  one  fold 
under  one  Good  Shepherd,  Jesus  Christ  his 
Son ;  may  the  Holy  Spirit 

"  Our  souls  inspire, 
And  lighten  with,  celestial  fire." 


LECTURE   ON  MISSIONS, 


DELIVERED   IN   THE 


NAVE   OF  WESTMINSTER  ABBEY, 


Evening  of  December  3,  1873, 

BY 

PROFESSOR    MAX    MULLER. 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 


The  number  of  religions  which  have  attained 
stability  and  permanence  in  the  history  Number  of 
of  the  world  is  very  small.  If  we  leave  rSiS. 
out  of  consideration  those  vague  and  varying 
forms  of  faith  and  worship  which  we  find  among 
uncivilized  and  unsettled  races,  among  races 
ignorant  of  reading  and  writing,  who  have 
neither  a  literature,  nor  laws,  nor  even  hymns 
and  prayers  handed  down  by  oral  teaching 
from  father  to  son,  from  mother  to  daughter, 
we  see  that  the  number  of  the  real  historical 
religions  of  mankind  amounts  to  no  more  than 
eight.  The  Semitic  races  have  produced  three : 
the  Jewish^  the  Christian,  the  Mohammedan;  the 
Aryan,  or  Indo-European  races,  an  equal  num- 
ber :  the  Brahman,  the  Buddhist,  and  the  Parsi. 
Add  to  these  the  two  religious  systems  of 
China,  that  of  Confucius  and  Lao-tse,  and  you 
have  before  you  what  may  be  called  the  eight 
distinct  languages  or  utterances  of  the  faith  of 
mankind  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to 


34  LECTURE   ON  MISSIONS. 

the  present  day  ;  you  have  before  you  in  broad 
outlines  the  religious  map  of  the  whole  world. 
All  these  religions,  however,  have  a  history, 
comparative  a  history  more  deeply  interesting  than 
iSons?f  Re"  the  history  of  language,  of  literature,  of 
art,  or  politics.  Keligions  are  not  unchange- 
able ;  on  the  contrary,  they  are  always  growing 
and  changing ;  and  if  they  cease  to  grow  and 
cease  to  change,  they  cease  to  live.  Some  of 
these  religions  stand  by  themselves,  totally  in- 
dependent of  all  the  rest;  others  are  closely 
united,  or  have  influenced  each  other  during 
various  stages  of  their  growth  and  decay. 
They  must  therefore  be  studied  together,  if 
we  wish  to  understand  their  real  character, 
their  growth,  their  decay,  and  their  resuscita- 
tions. Thus,  Mohammedanism  would  be  unin- 
telligible without  Christianity ;  Christianity 
wuthout  Judaism  :  and  there  are  similar  bonds 
that  hold  together  the  great  religions  of  India 
and  Persia — the  faith  of  the  Brahman,  the 
Buddhist,  and  the  Parsi.  After  a  careful  study 
of  the  origin  and  growth  of  these  religions,  and 
after  a  critical  examination  of  the  sacred  books 
on  which  all  of  them  profess  to  be  founded,  it 
has  become  possible  to  subject  them  all  to  a 
scientific  classification,  in  the  same  manner  as 
languages,  apparently  unconnected  and  mutu- 
ally unintelligible,  have  been  scientifically  ar- 


LECTURE   ON  MISSIONS.  35 

ranged  and  classified ;  and  by  a  comparison  of 
those  points  which  all  or  some  of  them  share 
in  common,  as  well  as  by  a  determination  of 
those  which  are  peculiar  to  each,  a  new  science 
has  been  called  into  life,  a  science  which  con- 
cerns us  all,  and  in  which  all  who  truly  care 
for  religion  must  sooner  or  later  take  their  part 
—  the  Science  of  Religion. 

Among   the    various     classifications1   which 
have   been  applied   to  the  religions  of  „.  . 

I  i  o  Missionary 

the  world,  there  is  one  that  interests  Si£>nn^y 
us  more  immediately  to-night,  I  mean  e,glons- 
the  division  into  Non-Missionary  and  Missionary 
religions.  This  is  by  no  means,  as  might  be 
supposed,  a  classification  based  on  an  unim- 
portant or  merely  accidental  characteristic ; 
on  the  contrary,  it  rests  on  what  is  the  very 
heart-blood  in  every  system  of  human  faith. 
Among  the  six  religions  of  the  Aryan  and 
Semitic  world,  there  are  three  that  are  op- 
posed to  all  Missionary  enterprise  —  Judaism, 
Brahmanism,  and  Zoroasirianism ;  and  three  that 
have  a  Missionary  character  from  their  very 
beginning  —  Buddhism,  Mohammedanism,  and 
Christianity. 

The  Jews,  particularly  in  ancient  times,  never 
thought   of    spreading    their    religion.  Judaism. 
Their  religion  was  to  them  a  treasure,  a  privi- 
lege, a  blessing,  something  to  distinguish  them, 


36  LECTURE   ON  MISSIONS. 

as  the  chosen  people  of  God,  from  all  the  rest 
of  the  world.  A  Jew  must  be  of  the  seed  of 
Abraham :  and  when  in  later  times,  owing 
chiefly  to  political  circumstances,  the  Jews  had 
to  admit  strangers  to  some  of  the  privileges  of 
their  theocracy,  they  looked  upon  them,  not  as 
souls  that  had  been  gained,  saved,  born  again 
into  a  new  brotherhood,  but  as  strangers  (cs^2), 
as  Proselytes  (Trpoo-ryWoi);  which  means  men  who 
have  come  to  them  as  aliens,  not  to  be  trusted, 
as  their  saying  was,  until  the  twenty-fourth 
generation.2 

A  very  similar  feeling  prevented  the  Brah- 
Brahman-  mans  from  ever  attempting  to  prosely- 
tize those  who  did  not  by  birth  belong 
to  the  spiritual  aristocracy  of  their  country. 
Their  wish  was  rather  to  keep  the  light  to 
themselves,  to  repel  intruders  ;  they  went  so 
far  as  to  punish  those  who  happened  to  be 
near  enough  to  hear  even  the  sound  of  their 
prayers,  or  to  witness  their  sacrifices.3 

The  Parsi,  too,  does  not  wish  for  converts  to 
zoroastri-  n^s  religion;  he  is  proud  of  his  faith, 
as  of  his  blood;  and  though  he  believes 
in  the  final  victory  of  truth  and  light,  though 
he  says  to  every  man, 6  Be  bright  as  the  sun, 
pure  as  the  moon,'  he  himself  does  very  little 
to  drive  away  spiritual  darkness  from  the  face 
of  the  earth,  by  letting  the  light  that  is  within 
him  shine  before  the  world. 


LECTURE   ON  MISSIONS.  37 

But  now  let  us  look  at  the  other  cluster  of 
religions,  at  Buddhism,  Mohammedanism,  Missionary 
and  Christianity.  However  they  may  Religion8- 
differ  from  each  other  in  some  of  their  most 
essential  doctrines,  this  they  share  in  common 
—  they  all  have  faith  in  themselves,  they  all 
have  life  and  vigor,  they  want  to  convince,  they 
mean  to  conquer.  From  the  very  earliest  dawn 
of  their  existence  these  three  religions  were 
missionary  :  their  very  founders,  or  their  first 
apostles,  recognized  the  new  duty  of  spreading 
the  truth,  of  refuting  error,  of  bringing  the 
whole  world  to  acknowledge  the  paramount,  if 
not  the  divine,  authority  of  their  doctrines. 
That  is  what  gives  to  them  all  a  common  ex- 
pression, and  lifts  them  high  above  the  level  of 
the  other  religions  of  the  world. 

Let  us  begin  with  Buddhism.  We  know,  in- 
deed, very  little  of  its  origin  and  ear-  Buddhism. 
nest  growth,  for  the  earliest  beginnings  of  all 
religions  withdraw  themselves  by  necessity 
from  the  eye  of  the  historian.  But  we  have 
something  like  contemporary  evidence  of  the 
Great  Council,  held  at  Pataliputra,  246  b.  c,  in 
which  the  sacred  canon  of  the  Buddhist  scrip- 
tures was  settled,  and  at  the  end  of  which  mis- 
sionaries were  chosen  and  sent  forth  to  preach 
the  new  doctrine,  not  only  in  India,  but  far  be- 
yond the  frontiers  of  that  vast  country.4     We 


38  LECTURE    ON  MISSIONS. 

possess  inscriptions  containing  the  edicts  of  the 
king  who  was  to  Buddhism  what  Constantine 
was  to  Christianity,  who  broke  with  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  old  religion  of  the  Brahmans,  and 
recognized  the  doctrines  of  Buddha  as  the  state 
religion  of  India.  We  possess  the  description 
of  that  Buddhist  Council,  which  was  to  India 
what  the  Council  of  Nicsea,  570  years  later, 
was  to  Europe  ;  and  we  can  still  read  there 5 
the  simple  story,  how  the  chief  Elder  who  had 
presided  over  the  Council,  an  old  man,  too 
weak  to  travel  by  land,  and  carried  from  his 
hermitage  to  the  Council  in  a  boat  —  how  that 
man,  when  the  Council  was  over,  began  to  re- 
flect on  the  future,  and  found  that  the  time 
had  come  to  establish  the  religion  of  Buddha 
in  foreign  countries.  He  therefore  dispatched 
some  of  the  most  eminent  priests  to  Cashmere, 
Cabul,  and  farther  west,  to  the  colonies  founded 
bv  the  Greeks  in  Bactria,  to  Alexandria  on  the 
Caucasus,  and  other  cities.  He  sent  others 
northward  to  Nepaul,  and  to  the  inhabited  por- 
tions of  the  Himalayan  mountains.  Another 
mission  proceeded  to  the  Dekhan,  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Mysore,  to  the  Mahrattas,  perhaps  to 
Goa;  nay,  even  Birma  and  Ceylon  are  men- 
tioned as  among  the  earliest  missionary  stations 
of  Buddhist  priests.  We  still  possess  accounts 
of  their  manner  of  preaching.     When  threat- 


LECTURE   ON  MISSIONS.  39 

ened  by  infuriated  crowds,  one  of  those  Bud- 
dhist missionaries  said  calmly,  "Even  if  the  gods 
were  united  with  men,  they  would  not  frighten 
me  away."  And  when  he  had  brought  the  peo- 
ple to  listen,  he  dismissed  them  .with  the  simple 
prayer,  u  Do  not  hereafter  give  way  to  pride 
and  anger ;  care  for  the  happiness  of  all  living 
beings,  and  abstain  from  violence.  Extend  your 
good-will  to  all  mankind ;  let  there  be  peace 
among  the  dwellers  on  earth." 

No  doubt,  the  accounts  of  the  successes 
achieved  by  those  early  missionaries  are  exag- 
gerated, and  their  fights  with  snakes  and  drag- 
ons and  evil  spirits  remind  us  sometimes  of  the 
legendary  accounts  of  the  achievements  of  such 
men  as  St.  Patrick  in  Ireland,  or  St.  Boniface  in 
Germany.  But  the  fact  that  missionaries  wrere 
sent  out  to  convert  the  world  seems  beyond 
the  reach  of  doubt ; 6  and  this  fact  represents  to 
us  at  that  time  a  new  thought,  new,  not  only 
in  the  history  of  India,  but  in  the  history  of 
the  whole  world.  The  recognition  of  a  duty 
to  preach  the  truth  to  every  man,  woman,  and 
child,  was  an  idea  opposed  to  the  deepest  in- 
stincts of  Brahmanism  ;  and  when,  at  the  end 
of  the  chapter  on  the  first  missions,  we  read 
the  simple  words  of  the  old  chronicler,  "  Who 
would  demur,  if  the  salvation  of  the  world  is  at 
stake  ?  "  we  feel  at  once  that  we  move  in  a  new 


40  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

world,  we  see  the  dawn  of  a  new  day,  the  open- 
ing of  vaster  horizons  —  we  feel,  for  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  the  world,  the  beating  of 
the  great  heart  of  humanity. 

The  Koran  breathes  a  different  spirit ;  it  does 
Mohamme-  not  invite,  it  rather  compels  the  world 
to  come  in.  Yet  there  are  passages, 
particularly  in  the  earlier  portions,  which  show 
that  Mohammed,  too,  had  realized  the  idea  of 
humanity,  and  of  a  religion  of  humanity  ;  nay, 
that  at  first  he  wished  to  unite  his  own  relig- 
ion with  that  of  the  Jews  and  Christians,  com- 
prehending all  under  the  common  name  of 
Islam.  Islam  meant  originally  humility  or  de- 
votion; and  all  who  humbled  themselves  be- 
fore God,  and  were  filled  with  real  revernece, 
were  called  Moslim.  "  The  Islam,"  says  Mo- 
hammed, "  is  the  true  worship  of  God.  When 
men  dispute  with  you,  say,  '  I  am  a  Moslim.' 
Ask  those  who  have  sacred  books,  and  ask  the 
heathen  :  4  Are  you  Moslim  ? '  If  they  are, 
they  are  on  the  right  path  ;  but  if  they  turn 
away,  then  you  have  no  other  task  but  to  de- 
liver the  message,  to  preach  to  them  the 
Islam." 6 

As  to  our  own  religion,  its  very  soul  is  mis- 
christianity.  sionary,  progressive,  world-embracing  ; 
it  would  cease  to  exist  if  it  ceased  to  be  mis- 
sionary—  if  it  disregarded  the  parting  words 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS.  41 

of  its  Founder :  "  Go  ye  therefore  and  teach 
all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  I  have 
commanded ;  and,  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 

It  is  this  missionary  character,  peculiar  to 
these  three  religions,  Buddhism,  Mohammedan- 
ism, and  Christianity,  which  binds  them  to- 
gether, and  lifts  them  to  a  higher  sphere. 
Their  differences,  no  doubt,  are  great ;  on  some 
points  they  are  opposed  to  each  other  like  day 
and  night.  But  they  could  not  be  what  they 
are,  they  could  not  have  achieved  what  they 
have  achieved,  unless  the  spirit  of  truth  and 
the  spirit  of  love  had  been  alive  in  the  hearts 
of  their  founders,  their  first  messengers,  and 
missionaries. 

The  spirit  of  truth  is  the  life-spring  of  all 
religion,  and  where  it  exists  it  must  The  spirit 
manifest  itself,  it  must  plead,  it  must 
persuade,  it  must  convince  and  convert.  Mis- 
sionary work,  however,  in  the  usual  sense  of 
the  word,  is  only  one  manifestation  of  that 
spirit ;  for  the  same  spirit  which  fills  the  heart 
of  the  missionary  with  daring  abroad,  gives 
courage  also  to  the  preacher  at  home,  bearing 
witness  to  the  truth  that  is  within  him.  The 
religions  which  can  boast  of  missionaries  who 


42  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

left  the  old  home  of  their  childhood,  and  parted 
with  parents  and  friends  —  never  to  meet 
again  in  this  life — who  went  into  the  wilder- 
ness, willing  to  spend  a  life  of  toil  among 
strangers,  ready,  if  need  be,  to  lay  down  their 
life  as  witnesses  to  the  truth,  as  martyrs  for 
the  glory  of  God  —  the  same  religions  are  rich 
also  in  those  honest  and  intrepid  inquirers  who, 
at  the  bidding  of  the  same  spirit  of  truth,  were 
ready  to  leave  behind  them  the  cherished  creed 
of  their  childhood,  to  separate  from  the  friends 
they  loved  best,  to  stand  alone  among  men 
that  shrug  their  shoulders,  and  ask  "  What  is 
truth  ?  "  and  to  bear  in  silence  a  martjTclom 
more  galling  often  than  death  itself.  There 
are  men  who  say  that,  if  they  held  the  whole 
truth  in  their  hand,  they  would  not  open  one 
finger.  Such  men  know  little  of  the  working 
of  the  spirit  of  truth,  of  the  true  missionary 
spirit.  As  long  as  there  is  doubt  and  darkness 
and  anxiety  in  the  soul  of  an  inquirer,  reti- 
cence may  be  his  natural  attitude.  But  when 
once  doubt  has  yielded  to  certainty,  darkness 
to  light,  anxiety  to  joy,  the  rays  of  truth  will 
burst  forth ;  and  to  close  our  hand  or  to  shut 
our  lips,  would  be  as  impossible  as  for  the 
petals  of  a  flower  to  shut  themselves  against 
the  summons  of  the  sun  of  spring. 

What  is  there  in  this  short  life  that  should 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS.  43 

seal  our  lips  ?  What  should  we  wait  for.  if  we 
are  not  to  speak  here  and  now  ?  There  is  mis- 
sionary work  at  home  as  much  as  abroad; 
there  are  thousands  waiting  to  listen,  if  one 
man  will  but  speak  the  truth,  and  nothing  but 
the  truth  ;  there  are  thousands  starving,  be- 
cause they  cannot  find  that  food  which  is  con- 
venient for  them. 

And  even  if  the  spirit  of  truth  might  be 
chained  down  by  fear  or  prudence,  the  The  spiritof 
spirit  of  love  would  never  yield.  Once 
recognize  the  common  brotherhood  of  man- 
kind, not  as  a  name  or  a  theory,  but  as  a  real 
bond,  as  a  bond  more  binding,  more  lasting 
than  the  bonds  of  family,  caste,  and  race,  and 
the  questions,  Why  should  I  open  my  hand  ? 
Why  should  I  open  my  heart  ?  Why  should  I 
speak  to  my  brother  ?  will  never  be  asked 
again.  Is  it  not  far  better  to  speak  than  to 
walk  through  life  silent,  unknown,  unknowing  ? 
Has  any  one  of  us  ever  spoken  to  his  friend, 
and  opened  to  him  his  inmost  soul,  and  been 
answered  with  harshness  or  repelled  with 
scorn  ?  Has  any  one  of  us,  be  he  priest  or 
layman,  ever  listened  to  the  honest  question- 
ings of  a  truth-loving  soul,  without  feeling  his 
own  soul  filled  with  love  ?  aye,  without  feeling 
humbled  by  the  very  honesty  of  a  brother's 
confession  ? 


44  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

If  we  would  but  confess,  friend  to  friend,  if 
we  would  be  but  honest,  man  to  man,  we 
should  not  want  confessors  or  confessionals. 

If  our  doubts  and  difficulties  are  self-made, 
if  they  can  be  removed  by  wiser  and  better 
men,  why  not  give  to  our  brother  the  oppor- 
tunity of  helping  us  ?  But  if  our  difficulties 
are  not  self-made,  if  they  are  not  due  either  to 
ignorance  or  presumption,  is  it  not  even  then 
better  for  us  to  know  that  we  are  all  carrying 
the  same  burden,  the  common  burden  of  hu- 
manity, if  haply  we  may  find,  that  for  the 
heavy  laden  there  is  but  one  who  can  give 
them  rest. 

There  may  be  times  when  silence  is  gold, 
and  speech  silver :  but  there  are  times  also 
when  silence  is  death,  and  speech  is  life  —  the 
very  life  of  Pentecost. 

How  can  man  be  afraid  of  man  ?  How  can 
we  be  afraid  of  those  whom  we  love  ? 

Are  the  young  afraid  of  the  old  ?  But  noth- 
ing delights  the  older  man  more  than  to  see 
that  he  is  trusted  by  the  young,  and  that  they 
believe  he  will  tell  them  the  truth. 

Are  the  old  afraid  of  the  young  ?  But  noth- 
ing sustains  the  young  more  than  to  know  that 
they  do  not  stand  alone  in  their  troubles,  and 
that  in  many  trials  of  the  soul  the  father  is  as 
helpless  as  the  child. 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS.  45 

Are  women  afraid  of  men  ?  But  men  are 
not  wiser  in  the  things  appertaining  to  God 
than  women,  and  real  love  of  God  is  theirs  far 
more  than  ours. 

Are  men  afraid  of  women  ?  But  though 
women  may  hide  their  troubles  more  carefully, 
their  heart  aches  as  much  as  ours,  when  they 
whisper  to  themselves,  "  Lord,  I  believe,  help 
thou  my  unbelief." 

Are  the  laity  afraid  of  the  clergy  ?  But 
where  is  the  clergyman  who  would  not  respect 
honest  doubt  more  than  unquestioning  faith  ? 

Are  the  clergy  afraid  of  the  laity  ?  But 
surely  we  know  in  this  place  that  the  clear 
voice  of  honesty  and  humility  draws  more 
hearts  than  the  harsh  accents  of  dogmatic  as- 
surance or  ecclesiastic  exclusiveness. 

A  missionary  must  know  no  fear ;  his  heart 
must  overflow  with  love  —  love  of  man,  love 
of  truth,  love  of  God  ;  and  in  this,  the  highest 
and  truest  sense  of  the  word,  every  Christian 
is,  or  ought  to  be,  a  missionary. 

And  now,  let  us  look  again  at  the  religions  in 
which  the  missionary  spirit  has  been  at  The  fate  of 

...  ,  .    1  nou-mission- 

work,  and  compare  them  with  those  in  *ry  religions. 
which  any  attempt  to  convince  others  by  argu- 
ment, to  save  souls,  to  bear  witness  to  the  truth, 
is  treated  with  pity  or  scorn.  The  former  are 
alive,  the  latter  are  dying  or  dead. 


46  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

The  religion  of  Zoroaster,  —  the^religion  of 
zoroastri-  Cyrus,  of  Darius  and  Xerxes, —  which, 
anism'  but  for  the  battles  of  Marathon  and 
of  Salamis,  might  have  become  the  religion  of 
the  civilized  world,  is  now  professed  by  only 
100,000  souls  —  that  is,  by  about  a  ten-thou- 
sandth part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  world. 
During  the  last  two  centuries  their  number  has 
steadily  decreased  from  four  to  one  hundred 
thousand,  and  another  century  will  probably 
exhaust  what  is  still  left  of  the  worshippers  of 
the  Wise  Spirit,  Ahuramazda. 

The  Jews  are  about  thirty  times  the  number 
Judaism.  of  the  Parsis,  and  they  therefore  rep- 
resent a  more  appreciable  portion  of  mankind. 
Though  it  is  not  likely  that  they  will  ever  in- 
crease in  number,  yet  such  is  their  physical 
vigor  and  their  intellectual  tenacity,  such  also 
their  pride  of  race  and  their  faith  in  Jehovah, 
that  we  can  hardly  imagine  that  their  patri- 
archal religion  and  their  ancient  customs  will 
soon  vanish  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

But  though  the   religions  of  the  Parsis  and 

Brahman-         JeWS    might    JUStlJ     Seem    t0   haVe     Pald 

lsm'  the    penalty   of    their    anti-missionary 

spirit,  how,  it  will  be  said,  can  the  same  be 
maintained  with  regard  to  the  religion  of  the 
Brahmans  ?  That  religion  is  still  professed  by 
at  least  110,000,000  of  human  souls,  and,  to 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS.  47 

judge  from  the  last  census,  even  that  enormous 
number  falls  much  short  of  the  real  truth.  And 
yet  I  do  not  shrink  from  saying  that  their  reli- 
gion is  dying  or  dead.  And  why  ?  Because  it 
cannot  stand  the  light  of  day.  The  worship  of 
Siva,  of  Vishnu,  and  the  other  popular  deities, 
is  of  the  same,  nay,  in  many  cases  of  a  more  de- 
graded and  savage  character  than  the  worship 
of  Jupiter,  Apollo,  and  Minerva ;  it  belongs  to 
a  stratum  of  thought  which  is  long;  buried  be- 
neath  our  feet ;  it  may  live  on,  like  the  lion 
and  the  tiger,  but  the  mere  air  of  free  thought 
and  civilized  life  will  extinguish  it.  A  religion 
may  linger  on  for  a  long  time,  it  may  be  ac- 
cepted by  the  large  masses  of  the  people,  be- 
cause it  is  there,  and  there  is  nothing  better. 
But  when  a  religion  has  ceased  to  produce  de- 
fenders of  the  faith,  prophets,  champions,  mar- 
tyrs, it  has  ceased  to  live ;  and  in  this  sense 
Brahmanism  has  ceased  to  live  for  more  than  a 
thousand  years. 

It  is  true  there  are  millions  of  children, 
women,  and  men  in  India  who  fall  down  before 
the  stone  image  of  Vishnu,  with  his  four  arms, 
riding  on  a  creature  half  bird,  half  man,  or 
sleeping  on  the  serpent ;  who  worship  Siva,  a 
monster  with  three  eyes,  riding  naked  on  a 
bull,  with  a  necklace  of  skulls  for  his  ornament. 
There  are  human  beings  who  still  believe  in  a 


48  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

god  of  war,  Kartikeya,  with  six  faces,  riding  on 
a  peacock,  and  holding  bow  and  arrow  in  his 
hands ;  and  who  invoke  a  god  of  success,  Gan- 
esa,  with  four  hands  and  an  elephant's  head, 
sitting  on  a  rat.  Nay,  it  is  true  that,  in  the 
broad  daylight  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the 
figure  of  the  goddess  Kali  is  carried  through 
the  streets  of  her  own  city,  Calcutta,8  her  wild 
disheveled  hair  reaching  to  her  feet,  with  a 
necklace  of  human  heads,  her  tongue  protruded 
from  her  mouth,  her  girdle  stained  with  blood. 
All  this  is  true  ;  but  ask  any  Hindu  who  can 
read  and  write  and  think,  whether  these  are 
the  gods  he  believes  in,  and  he  will  smile  at 
your  credulity.  How  long  this  living  death  of 
national  religion  in  India  may  last,  no  one  can 
tell :  for  our  purposes,  however,  for  gaining  an 
idea  of  the  issue  of  the  oreat  religious  struggle 
of  the  future,  that  religion  too  is  dead  and 
gone. 

The  three  religions  which  are  alive,  and  be- 
The  three      tween  which  the  decisive  battle  for  the 

living  re- 

ligkms.  dominion  of  the  world  will  have  to  be 
fought,  are  the  three  missionary  religions,  Bud- 
dhism, Mohammedanism,  and  Christianity \  Though 
religious  statistics  are  perhaps  the  most  uncer- 
tain of  all,  yet  it  is  well  to  have  a  general  con- 
ception of  the  forces  of  our  enemies  ;  and  it  is 
well  to  know  that,  though  the  number  of  Chris- 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS.  49 

tians  is  double  the  number  of  Mohammedans, 
the  Buddhist  religion  still  occupies  the  first 
place  in  the  religious  census  of  mankind.9 

Buddhism  rules  supreme  in  Central,  North- 
ern, Eastern,  and  Southern  Asia,  and  it  grad- 
ually absorbs  whatever  there  is  left  of  aborig- 
inal heathenism  in  that  vast  and  populous  area. 

Mohammedanism  claims  as  its  own  Arabia, 
Persia,  great  parts  of  India,  Asia  Minor,  Turkey, 
and  Egypt ;  and  its  greatest  conquests  by  mis- 
sionary efforts  are  made  among  the  heathen 
population  of  Africa. 

Christianity  reigns  in  Europe  and  America, 
and  it  is  conquering  the  native  races  of  Poly- 
nesia and  Melanesia,  while  its  missionary  out- 
posts are  scattered  all  over  the  world. 

Between  these  three  powers,  then,  the  re- 
ligious battle  of  the  future,  the  Holy  War  of 
mankind  will  have  to  be  fought,  and  is  being 
fought  at  the  present  moment,  though  appar- 
ently with  little  effect.  To  convert  a  Moham- 
medan is  difficult ;  to  convert  a  Buddhist,  more 
difficult  still ;  to  convert  a  Christian,  let  us 
hope,  well  nigh  impossible. 

What  then,  it  may  be  asked,  is  the  use  of 
missionaries  ?      Why  should  we  spend  0bjects  of 
millions    on    foreign    missions,   when  missl0n8- 
there  are  children  in  our  cities  who  are  allowed 
to  grow  up  in  ignorance  ?     Why  should  we  de- 

4 


50  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

prive  ourselves  of  some  of  the  noblest,  boldest, 
most  ardent  and  devoted  spirits  and  send  them 
into  the  wilderness,  while  so  many  laborers  are 
wranted  in  the  vineyard  at  home  ? 

It  is  right  to  ask  these  questions ;  and  we 
ought  not  to  blame  those  political  economists 
who  tell  us  that  every  convert  costs  us  £200, 
and  that  at  the  present  rate  of  progress  it  would 
take  more  than  200,000  years  to  evangelize  the 
world.  There  is  nothing  at  all  startling  in 
these  figures.  Every  child  born  in  Europe  is 
as  much  a  heathen  as  the  child  of  a  Melanesian 
cannibal;  and  it  costs  us  more  than  £200  to 
turn  a  child  into  a  Christian  man.  The  other 
calculation  is  totally  erroneous,  for  an  intellect- 
ual harvest  must  not  be  calculated  by  adding 
simply  grain  to  grain,  but  by  counting  each 
grain  as  a  living  seed,  that  will  bring  forth  fruit 
a  hundred  and  a  thousand  fold. 

If  we  want  to  know  what  work  there  is  for 
patemai  the  missionary  to  do,  what  results  we 
missions.  may  ex^QC^  from  j^  we  must  distin- 
guish between  two  kinds  of  work :  the  one  is 
parental,  the  other  controversial  Among  unciv- 
ilized races  the  work  of  the  missionary  is  the 
work  of  a  parent ;  whether  his  pupils  are  young 
in  years  or  old,  he  has  to  treat  them  with  a 
parent's  love,  to  teach  them  with  a  parent's  au- 
thority ;  he  has  to  win  them,  not  to  argue  with 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS.  51 

them.  I  know  this  kind  of  missionary  work  is 
often  despised  ;  it  is  called  mere  religious  kid- 
napping ;  and  it  is  said  that  missionary  success 
obtained  by  such  means  proves  nothing  for  the 
truth  of  Christianity;  that  the  child  handed 
over  to  a  Mohammedan  would  grow  up  a  Mo- 
hammedan, as  much  as  a  child  taken  by  a 
Christian  missionary  becomes  a  Christian.  All 
this  is  true;  missionary  success  obtained  by  such 
means  proves  nothing  for  the  truth  of  our 
Creeds :  but  it  proves,  what  is  far  more  impor- 
tant, it  proves  Christian  love.  Read  only  the 
"Life  of  Patteson,"  the  Bishop  of  Melanesia; 
follow  him  in  his  vessel,  sailing  from  island  to 
island,  begging  for  children,  carrying  them  off 
as  a  mother  her  new-born  child,  nursing  them, 
washing  and  combing  them,  clothing  them, 
feeding  them,  teaching  them  in  his  Episcopal 
Palace,  in  which  he  himself  is  everything,  nurse 
and  housemaid,  and  cook,  school-master,  physi- 
cian, and  Bishop  —  read  there,  how  that  man 
who  tore  himself  away  from  his  aged  father, 
from  his  friends,  from  his  favorite  studies  and 
pursuits,  had  the  most  loving  of  hearts  for  these 
children,  how  indignantly  he  repelled  for  them 
the  name  of  savages,  how  he  trusted  them,  re- 
spected them,  honored  them,  and  when  they 
were  formed  and  established,  took  them  back 
to  their  island  homes,  there  to  be  a  leaven  for 


52  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

future  ages.  Yes,  read  the  life,  the  work,  the 
death  of  that  man,  a  death  in  very  truth,  a  ran- 
som for  the  sins  of  others  —  and  then  say 
whether  you  would  like  to  suppress  a  profession 
that  can  call  forth  such  self-denial,  such  heroism, 
such  sanctity,  such  love.  It  has  been  my  priv- 
ilege to  have  known  some  of  the  finest  and 
noblest  spirits  which  England  has  produced 
during  this  century,  but  there  is  none  to  whose 
memory  I  look  up  with  greater  reverence,  none 
by  whose  friendship  I  feel  more  deeply  humbled 
than  by  that  of  that  true  saint,  that  true  mar- 
tyr, that  truly  parental  missionary. 

The  work  of  the  parental  missionary  is  clear, 
and  its  success  undeniable,  not  only  in  Poly- 
nesia and  Melanesia,  but  in  many  parts  of 
India  (think  only  of  the  bright  light  of  Tin- 
nevelly),  in  Africa,  in  China,  in  America,  in 
Syria,  in  Turkey,  aye,  in  the  very  heart  of  Lon- 
don. 

The  case  is  different  with  the  controversial 
. ,  missionary,  who  has  to  attack  the  faith 

Controversial  *  ' 

missions.  0£  men  Dr0Ught  up  in  other  religions, 
in  religions  which  contain  much  truth,  though 
mixed  up  with  much  error.  Here  the  difficul- 
ties are  immense,  the  results  very  discouraging. 
Nor  need  we  wonder  at  this.  We  know,  each 
of  us,  but  too  well,  how  little  argument  avails 
in  theological  discussion  ;  how  often  it  produces 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS.  53 

the  very  opposite  result  of  what  we  expected  ; 
confirming  rather  than  shaking  opinions  no  less 
erroneous,  no  less  indefensible,  than  many  ar- 
ticles of  the  Mohammedan  or  Buddhist  faith. 

And  even  when  argument  proves  successful, 
when  it  forces  a  verdict  from  an  unwilling 
judge,  how  often  has  the  result  been  disap- 
pointing ;  because  in  tearing  up  the  rotten  stem 
on  which  the  tree  rested,  its  tenderest  fibres 
have  been  injured,  its  roots  unsettled,  its  life 
destroyed. 

We  have  little  ground  to  expect  that  these 
controversial  weapons  will  carry  the  day  in  the 
struggle  between  the  three  great  religions  of 
the  world. 

But  there  is  a  third  kind  of  missionary  ac- 

tivitv,  which  has  produced  the   most  indirect  &- 
J  _  1       i  •  i    fluence  °f 

important  results,  and  through  which  Christianity. 

alone,  I  believe,  the  final  victory  will  be  gained. 
Whenever  two  religions  are  brought  into  con- 
tact, when  members  of  each  live  together  in 
peace,  abstaining  from  all  direct  attempts  at 
conversion,  whether  by  force  or  by  argument, 
though  conscious  all  the  time  of  the  fact  that 
they  and  their  religion  are  on  their  trial,  that 
they  are  being  watched,  that  they  are  respon- 
sible for  all  they  say  and  do  —  the  effect  has 
always  been  the  greatest  blessing  to  both.  It 
calls  out  all  the  best  elements  in  each,  and  at 


54  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

the  same  time  keeps  under  all  that  is  felt  to  be 
of  doubtful  value,  of  uncertain  truth.  When- 
ever this  has  happened  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  it  has  generally  led  either  to  the  reform 
of  both  systems,  or  to  the  foundation  of  a  new 
religion. 

When  after  the  conquest  of  India  the  vio- 
.   lent  measures    for   the   conversion  of 

Influence  of 

Smmoned"   the  Hindus   to  Mohammedanism   had 

cxLllMJ-i    Oil 

Brahmamsm.  ceage(^  an(j  Mohammedans  and  Brah- 
mans  lived  together  in  the  enjoyment  of  per- 
fect equality,  the  result  was  a  purified  Moham- 
medanism, and  a  purified  Brahmanism.10  The 
worshippers  of  Vishnu,  Siva,  and  other  deities 
became  ashamed  of  these  mythological  gods ; 
and  were  led  to  admit  that  there  was,  either 
over  and  above  these  individual  deities,  or  in- 
stead of  them,  a  higher  divine  power  (the 
Para-Brahma),  the  true  source  of  all  being,  the 
only  and  almighty  ruler  of  the  world.  That 
religious  movement  assumed  its  most  important 
development  at  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century,  when  Ramanuga  founded  the  reformed 
sect  of  the  worshippers  of  Vishnu  ;  and  again, 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  when  his  fifth  suc- 
cessor, Eamananda,  imparted  a  still  more  liberal 
character  to  that  powerful  sect.  Not  only  did 
he  abolish  many  of  the  restrictions  of  caste, 
many  of  the  minute  ceremonial  observances  in 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS.  55 

eating,  drinking,  and  bathing,  but  he  replaced 
the  classical  Sanskrit  —  which  was  unintelligible 
to  the  large  masses  of  the  people  —  by  the  liv- 
ing vernaculars,  in  which  he  preached  a  purer 
worship  of  God. 

The  most  remarkable  man  of  that  time  was  a 
weaver,  the  pupil  of  Ramanancla,  known  Kabir. 
by  the  name  of  Kabir.  He  indeed  deserved 
the  name  which  the  members  of  the  reformed 
sect  claimed  for  themselves,  Avadhrda,  which 
means  one  who  has  shaken  off  the  dust  of  su- 
perstition. He  broke  entirely  with  the  popular 
mythology  and  the  customs  of  the  ceremonial 
law,  and  addressed  himself  alike  to  Hindu  and 
Mohammedan.  According  to  him,  there  is  but 
one  Gocl,  the  creator  of  the  world,  without 
beginning  and  end,  of  inconceivable  purity,  and 
irresistible  strength.  The  pure  man  is  the 
image  of  God,  and  after  death  attains  commu- 
nity with  God.  The  commandments  of  Kabir 
are  few  :  Not  to  injure  anything  that  has  life, 
for  life  is  of  God ;  to  speak  the  truth ;  to  keep 
aloof  from  the  world  ;  to  obey  the  teacher. 
His  poetry  is  most  beautiful,  hardly  surpassed 
in  any  other  language. 

Still  more  important  in  the  history  of  India 
was  the  reform  of  Nanak,  the  founder  XT    , 

"  Nanak, 

of  the  Sikh  religion.     He,  too,  worked  Kjgk* 
entirely    in   the    spirit  of  Kabir.  Both  leiglM 


56  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

labored  to  persuade  the  Hindus  and  Moham- 
medans that  the  truly  essential  parts  of  their 
creeds  were  the  same,  that  they  ought  to  discard 
the  varieties  of  practical  detail,  and  the  cor- 
ruptions of  their  teachers,  for  the  worship  of 
the  One  Only  Supreme,  whether  he  was  termed 
Allah  or  Vishnu. 

The  effect  of  these  religious  reforms  has  been 
highly  beneficial;  it  has  cut  into  the  very  roots 
of  idolatry,  and  has  spread  throughout  India  an 
intelligent  and  spiritual  worship,  which  may  at 
any  time  develop  into  a  higher  national  creed. 

The  same  effect  which  Mohammedanism  pro- 
duced on  Hinduism  is  now  being  pro- 
influence  o    I 

°tyCohnriBrah-  duced  in  a  much  higher  degree  on  the 
religious  mind  of  India  by  the  mere 
presence  of  Christianity.  That  silent  influence 
began  to  tell  many  years  ago,  even  at  a  time 
when  no  missionaries  were  allowed  within  the 
territory  of  the   old  East  India  Coin- 

Ram  Mohun  ^ 

XJ Brahma-  pany-  Its  first  representative  was  Ram 
samaj.  Mohun  Roy,  born  just  one  hundred 
years  ago,  in  1772,  who  died  at  Bristol  in  1833, 
the  founder  of  the  Brahma-Samaj.  A  man  so 
highly  cultivated  and  so  highly  religious  as  he 
was,  could  not  but  feel  humiliated  at  the  spec- 
tacle which  the  popular  religion  of  his  country 
presented  to  his  English  friends.  He  drew 
their   attention  to  the  fact  that   there    was   a 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS.  57 

purer  religion  to  be  found  in  the  old  sacred 
writings  of  his  people,  the  Vedas.  He  went  so 
far  as  to  claim  for  the  Vedas  a  divine  origin,  and 
to  attempt  the  foundation  of  a  reformed  faith 
on  their  authority.  In  this  attempt  he  failed. 
No  doubt  the  Vedas  and  other  works  of  the 
ancient  poets  and  prophets  of  India  Inspiration 
contain  treasures  of  truth,  which  ought  of  theVedas- 
never  to  be  forgotten,  least  of  all  by  the  sons 
of  India.  The  late  good  Bishop  Cotton,  in  his 
address  to  the  students  of  a  missionary  institu- 
tion at  Calcutta,  advised  them  to  use  a  certain 
hymn  of  the  Rig-Veda  in  their  daily  prayers.11 
Nowhere  do  we  find  stronger  arguments  against 
idolatry,  nowhere  has  the  unity  of  the  Deity 
been  upheld  more  strenuously  against  the 
errors  of  polytheism  than  by  some  of  the 
ancient  sages  of  India.  Even  in  the  oldest  of 
their  sacred  books,  the  Rig- Veda,  composed 
three  or  four  thousand  years  ago  —  where  we 
find  hymns  addressed  to  the  different  deities  of 
the  sky,  the  air,  the  earth,  the  rivers  —  the 
protest  of  the  human  heart  against  many  gods, 
breaks  forth  from  time  to  time  with  no  uncer- 
tain sound.  One  poet,  after  he  has  asked  to 
whom  sacrifice  is  clue,  answers,  "  to  Him  who  is 
God  above  all  gods." 12  Another  poet,  after 
enumerating  the  names  of  many  deities,  affirms, 
without  hesitation,  that "  these  are  all  but  names 


58  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

of  Him  who  is  One."  And  even  when  single 
deities  are  invoked,  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  that, 
in  the  mind  of  the  poet,  each  one  of  the  names 
is  meant  to  express  the  highest  conception  of 
deity  of  which  the  human  mind  was  then  capable. 
The  god  of  the  sky  is  called  Father  and  Mother 
and  Friend  ;  he  is  the  Creator,  the  Upholder  of 
the  Universe ;  he  rewards  virtue  and  punishes 
sin  ;  he  listens  to  the  prayers  of  those  who  love 
him. 

But  granting  all  this,  we  may  well  understand 
why  an  attempt  to  claim  for  these  books  a 
divine  origin,  and  thus  to  make  them  an  artifi- 
cial  foundation  for  a  new  religion,  failed.  The 
successor  of  Ram  Mohun  Roy,  the  present  head 
of  the  Brahma-Samaj,  the  wise  and  excellent 
Debendranath  Tagore,  was  for  a  time  even 
more  decided  in  holding  to  the  Vedas  as  the 
Deben-         sole  foundation  of  the  new  faith.    But 

dranath. 

Tagore.  this  could  no t  last.  As  soon  as  the 
true  character  of  the  Vedas,13  which  but  few 
people  in  India  can  understand,  became  known, 
partly  through  the  efforts  of  native,  partly  of 
European  scholars,  the  Indian  reformers  re- 
linquished the  claim  of  divine  inspiration  in 
favor  of  their  Yedas,  and  were  satisfied  with 
a  selection  of  passages  from  the  works  of  the 
ancient  sages  of  India,  to  express  and  embody 
the  creed  which  the  members  of  the  Brahma- 
Samaj  hold  in  common.14 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS.  59 

The  work  which  these  religious  reformers 
have  been  doing  in  India  is  excellent,  and  those 
only  who  know  what  it  is,  in  religious  matters, 
to  break  with  the  past,  to  forsake  the  established 
custom  of  a  nation,  to  oppose  the  rush  of  public 
opinion,  to  brave  adverse  criticism,  to  submit 
to  social  persecution,  can  form  any  idea  of 
what  those  men  have  suffered,  in  bearing  wit- 
ness to  the  truth  that  was  within  them. 

They  could  not  reckon  on  any  sympathy  on 
the  part  of  Christian  Missionaries  ;  nor  sci^m  in 

-,.,,.  .  the  Brahma- 

did  their  work  attract  much  attention  Sam5J- 
in  Europe  till  very  lately,  when  a  schism  broke 
out  in  the  Brahma-Samaj  between  the  old  con- 
servative party  and  a  new  party,  led  by  Keshub 
Chunder  Sen.    The  former,  though  wil-  Ke^b 

11         Chunder 

ling  to  surrender  all  that  was  clearly  Sen- 
idolatrous  in  the  ancient  religion  and  customs 
of  India,  wished  to  retain  all  that  might  safely 
be  retained :  it  did  not  wish  to  see  the  religion 
of  India  denationalized.  The  other  party,  in- 
spired and  led  by  Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  went 
further  in  their  zeal  for  religious  purity.  All 
that  smacked  of  the  old  leaven  was  to  be  sur- 
rendered ;  not  only  caste,  but  even  that  sacred 
cord  —  the  religious  riband  which  makes  and 
marks  the  Brahman,  which  is  to  remind  him  at 
every  moment  of  his  life,  and  whatever  work  he 
may  be  engaged  in,  of  his  God,  of  his  ancestors, 


60  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

and  of  his  children  —  even  that  was  to  be  aban- 
doned; and  instead  of  founding  their  creed 
exclusively  on  the  utterances  of  the  ancient 
sages  of  their  own  country,  all  that  was  best  in 
the  sacred  books  of  the  whole  world,  was  se- 
lected and  formed  into  a  new  sacred  Code. 

The  schism  between  these  two  parties  is 
deeply  to  be  dejDlored  ;  but  it  is  a  sign  of  life. 
It  augurs  success  rather  than  failure  for  the 
future.  It  is  the  same  schism  which  St.  Paul 
had  to  heal  in  the  Church  of  Corinth,  and  he 
healed  it  with  the  words,  so  often  misunder- 
stood, "Knowledge  puffeth  up,  but  charity 
edifieth." 

In  the  eyes  of  our  missionaries  this  religious 
Relation       reform   in  India  has  not  found  much 

of  Mission-         n  ..  ,  .   . 

ariestothe    lavor :  nor  need   we   wonder   at   tins. 

Brahma- 

samaj.  Their  object  is  to  transplant,  if  possible, 
Christianity  in  its  full  integrity  from  England 
to  India,  as  we  might  wish  to  transplant  a  full- 
grown  tree.  They  do  not  deny  the  moral 
worth,  the  noble  aspirations,  the  self-sacrificing 
zeal  of  these  native  reformers  ;  but  they  fear 
that  all  this  will  but  increase  their  dangerous 
influence,  and  retard  the  progress  of  Christian- 
ity, by  drawing  some  of  the  best  minds  of  India, 
that  might  have  been  gained  over  to  our  religion, 
into  a  different  current.  They  feel  towards 
Keshub  Chunder  Sen  as  Athanasius  misfit  have 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS.  61 

felt  towards  Ulfilas,  the  Arian  Bishop  of  the 
Goths  :  and  yet,  what  would  have  become  of 
Christianity  in  Europe  but  for  those  Gothic 
races,  but  for  those  Arian  heretics,  who  were 
considered  more  dangerous  than  downright 
pagans  ? 

If  we  think  of  the  future  of  India,  and  of  the 
influence   which  that   country  has    al-  Brahma. 
ways  exercised  on  the  East,  the  move-  traSfon  to 

.        n         , .     .  P  ,   .    ,       .  a  new  creed. 

ment  of  religious  reform  which  is  now 
going  on,  appears  to  my  mind  the  most  mo- 
mentous in  this  momentous  century.  If  our  mis- 
sionaries feel  constrained  to  repudiate  it  as  their 
own  work,  history  will  be  more  just  to  them 
than  they  themselves.15  And  if  not  as  the  work 
of  Christian  missionaries,  it  will  be  recognized 
hereafter  as  the  work  of  those  missionary  Chris- 
tians who  have  lived  in  India,  as  examples  of  a 
true  Christian  life,  who  have  approached  the  na- 
tives in  a  truly  missionary  spirit,  in  the  spirit 
of  truth  and  in  the  spirit  of  love ;  whose  bright 
presence  has  thawed  the  ice,  and  brought  out 
beneath  it  the  old  soil,  ready  to  blossom  into 
new  life.  These  Indian  puritans  are  not  against 
us ;  for  all  the  highest  purposes  of  life  they 
are  with  us,  and  we,  I  trust,  with  them.  What 
would  the  early  Christians  have  said  to  men, 
outside  the  pale  of  Christianity,  who  spoke  of 
Christ  and  his  doctrine  as  some  of  these  Indian 


62  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

reformers  ?  Would  they  have  said  to  them, 
"Unless  you  speak  our  language  and  think 
our  thoughts,  unless  you  respect  our  Creed 
and  sign  our  Articles,  we  can  have  nothing  in 
common  with  you." 

0  that  Christians,  and  particularly  missiona- 
ries, would  lay  to  heart  the  words  of  a 

Missionaries  J  ■' 

SquLetoo  missionary  Bishop  !  16  "I  have  for 
years  thought,"  writes  Bishop  Patteson, 
"  that  we  seek  in  our  Missions  a  great  deal  too 
much  to  make  English  Christians.  .  .  .  Evi- 
dently the  heathen  man  is  not  treated  fairly, 
if  we  encumber  our  message  with  unnecessary 
requirements.  The  ancient  Church  had  its 
6  selection  of  fundamentals.'  .  .  .  Any  one  can 
see  what  mistakes  we  have  made  in  India.  .  .  . 
Few  men  think  themselves  into  the  state  of 
the  Eastern  mind.  .  .  .  We  seek  to  denational- 
ize these  races,  as  far  as  I  can  see  •  whereas 
we  ought  surely  to  change  as  little  as  possible 
—  only  what  is  clearly  incompatible  with  the 
simplest  form  of  Christian  teaching  and  prac- 
tice. I  do  not  mean  that  we  are  to  compro- 
mise truth  ....  but  do  we  not  overlay  it  a 
good  deal  with  human  traditions  1 " 

If  we  had  many  such  missionaries  as 

Bishop  Pat-  J 

BXpcot-    Bishop   Patteson  and    Bishop    Cotton, 

if  Christianity  were  not  only  preached, 

but  lived  in  that  spirit,  it  would  then  prove 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS.  63 

itself  what  it  is  —  the  religion  of  humanity  at 
large,  large  enough  itself  to  take  in  all  shades 
and  diversities  of  character  and  race. 

And  more  than  that  —  if  this  true  missionary 
spirit,  this  spirit  of  truth  and  love,  of  forbear- 
ance, of  trust,  of  toleration,  of  humility,  were 
once  to  kindle  the  hearts  of  all  those  chivalrous 
ambassadors  of  Christ,  the  message  of  the  Gos- 
pel which  they  have  to  deliver  would  then 
become  as  great  a  blessing  to  the  giver  as  to 
the  receiver.  Even  now,  missionary  work  unites, 
both  at  home  and  abroad,  those  who  are  widely 
separated  by  the  barriers  of  theological  sects.17 

It  might  do  so  far  more  still.  When  we 
stand   before    a    common    enemy,   we 

J  7  Missio  ary 

soon  forget  our  own  small  feuds.  But  Jondof 
why  ?  Often,  I  fear,  from  motives  of  umon' 
prudence  only  and  selfishness.  Can  we  not, 
then,  if  we  stand  in  spirit  before  a  common 
friend  —  can  we  not,  before  the  face  of  God, 
forget  our  small  feuds,  for  very  shame  ?  If 
missionaries  admit  to  their  fold  converts  who 
can  hardly  understand  the  equivocal  abstrac- 
tions of  our  Creeds  and  formulas,  is  it  necessary 
to  exclude  those  who  understand  them  but  too 
well  to  submit  the  wings  of  their  free  spirit  to 
such  galling  chains  ?  When  we  try  to  think  of 
the  majesty  of  God,  what  are  all  those  formulas 
but  the  stammerings  of  children,  which  only  a 


64  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

loving  father  can  interpret  and  understand ! 
The  fundamentals  of  our  religion  are  not  in 
these  poor  Creeds  ;  true  Christianity  lives,  not 
in  our  belief,  but  in  our  love  —  in  our  love  of 
God,  and  in  our  love  of  man,  founded  on  our  love  of 
God. 

That  is  the  whole  Law  and  the  Prophets, 
True  Chris-  that  ^s  the  religion  to  be  preached  to 
tianity-  the  whole  world,  that  is  the  Gospel 
which  will  conquer  all  other  religions  —  even 
Buddhism  and  Mohammedanism  —  which  will 
win  the  hearts  of  all  men. 

There  can  never  be  too  much  love,  though 
there  may  be  too  much  faith  —  particularly 
when  it  leads  to  the  requirement  of  exactly 
the  same  measure  of  faith  in  others.  Let  those 
who  wish  for  the  true  success  of  missionary 
work  learn  to  throw  in  of  the  abundance  of 
their  faith  ;  let  them  learn  to  demand  less  from 
others  than  from  themselves.  That  is  the  best 
offering,  the  most  valuable  contribution  which 
they  can  make  to-clay  to  the  missionary  cause. 

Let  missionaries  preach  the  Gospel  again  as 
it  was  preached  when  it  began  the  conquest  of 
the  Roman  Empire  and  the  Gothic  nations  ; 
when  it  had  to  struggle  with  powers  and  princi- 
palities, with  time-honored  religions  and  tri- 
umphant philosophies,  with  pride  of  civilization 
and  savagery  of  life  —  and  yet  came  out  vie- 


LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS.  65 

torious.  At  that  time  conversion  was  not  a 
question  to  be  settled  by  the  acceptance  or  re- 
jection of  certain  formulas  or  articles ;  a  sim- 
ple prayer  was  often  enough :  a  God  be  merci- 
ful to  me  a  sinner." 

There  is   one  kind   of  faith   that  revels   in 
words,  there  is  another  that  can  hardly  Two  kinds 
find  utterance  :  the  former  is  like  riches  of  falth' 
that  come  to  us   by  inheritance ;  the  latter  is 
like  the  daily  bread,  which  each  of  us  has   to 
win  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow.     We  cannot  ex- 
pect the  former  from  new  converts ;  we  ought 
not  to  expect  it  or  to  exact  it,  for  fear  that  it 
might  lead  to  hypocrisy  or  superstition.     The 
mere   believing   of  miracles,  the   mere  repeat- 
ing of  formulas,  requires  no  effort  in  converts 
brought  up  to  believe  in  the  Puranas  of  the 
Brahmans  or  the  Buddhist  Gatakas.    They  find 
it  much  easier  to  accept  a  legend  than  to  love 
God,  to  repeat  a  creed  than  to   forgive   their 
enemies.     In  this  respect  they  are  exactly  like 
ourselves.     Let  missionaries  remember  that  the 
Christian  faith  at  home  is  no  longer  what  it 
was,  and  that  it  is  impossible  to  have  one  creed 
to  preach  abroad,  another  to  preach  at  home. 
Much  that  was  formerly  considered  as  essential 
is  now  neglected ;  much  that  was  formerly  neg- 
lected is  now  considered  as  essential.     I  think 
of  the  laity  more  than  of  the  clergy:  but  what 


66  LECTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 

would  the  clergy  be  without  the  laity  ?     There 
are  many  of  our  best  men,  men  of  the  greatest 
power  and  influence  in  literature,  science,  art, 
politics,  aye,  even  in  the  Church  itself,  who  are 
no  longer  Christian   in   the    old   sense  of  the 
word.     Some  imagine  they  have  ceased  to  be 
Christians  altogether,   because   they  feel   that 
they  cannot  believe  as  much  as  others  profess 
to  believe.     We  cannot   afford   to   lose   these 
men,  nor  shall  we  lose  them  if  we  learn  to  be 
satisfied   with   what    satisfied    Christ   and   the 
Apostles,  with  what  satisfies  many  a  hard-work- 
ing missionary.     If  Christianity  is  to  retain  its 
hold  on  Europe  and  America,  if  it  is  to  conquer 
in  the  Holy  War  of  the  future,  it  must  throw 
off  its  heavy  armor,  the  helmet  of  brass,  and 
the  coat  of  mail,  and  face  the  world  like  David, 
with  his  staff,  his  stones,  and   his  sling.     We 
want  less  of  creeds,  but  more  of  trust ;  less  of 
ceremony,  but  more  of  work ;  less  of  solemnity, 
but  more  of  genial  honesty;  less  of  doctrine, 
but  more  of  love.     There  is  a  faith,  as  small  as 
a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  but  that  grain  alone 
can  move  mountains,  and  more  than  that,  it 
can  move  hearts.   Whatever  the  world  may  say 
of  us,  of  us  of  little  faith,  let  us  remember  that 
there  was  one  who  accepted  the  offering  of  the 
poor  widow.     She  threw  in  but  two  mites,  but 
that  was  all  she  had,  even  all  her  living. 


NOTES. 


1  Different  systems  of  classification  applied  to  the  re- 
ligions of  the  world  are  discussed  in  my  "  Introduction  to 
the  Science  of  Religion,"  pp.  122-143. 

2  "  Proselyto  ne  fidas  usque  ad  vigesimam  quartam  gen- 
erationem."  Jalkut  Ruth,  f.  1 63,  d. ;  Danz,  in  Meuschen, 
"  Nov.  Test,  ex  Talm.  illustr."  p.  651. 

3  "  India,  Progress  and  Condition,"  Blue  Book  presented 
to  Parliament,  1873,  p.  99.  "  It  is  asserted  (but  the  asser- 
tion must  be  taken  with  reserve)  that  it  is  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  the  Hindu  religion  is  not  proselytizing.  Any 
number  of  outsiders,  so  long  as  they  do  not  interfere  with 
established  castes,  can  form  a  new  caste,  and  call  themselves 
Hindus,  and  the  Brahmans  are  always  ready  to  receive  all 
who  submit  to  and  pay  them." 

4  Cf.  Mahavanso,  cap.  5. 

5  Cf.  Mahavanso,  cap.  12. 

6  In  some  of  the  places  mentioned  by  the  "  Chronicle  " 
as  among  the  earliest  stations  of  Buddhist  missions,  relics 
have  been  discovered  containing  the  names  of  the  very  mis- 
sionaries mentioned  by  the  "  Chronicle."  See  Koeppen, 
"  Die  Religion  des  Buddha,"  p.  188. 

7  "  Islam  is  the  verbal  noun,  and  Moslim  the  participle  of 
the  same  root  which  also  yields  Salcim,  peace,  and  salim  and 
salym,  whole,  honest.  Islam  means,  therefore,  to  satisfy  or 
pacify  by  forbearance  ;  it  also  means  simply  subjection." 
Sprenger,  "Mohammad,"  i.  p.  69  ;  iii.  486. 

8  Lassen,  "  Indische  Alterthumskunde,"  vol.  iv.  p.  635. 


68  NOTES. 

9  "  Chips  from  a  German  Workshop,"  vol.  i. ;  "  Essays 
on  the  Science  of  Religion,"  pp.  161,  216. 

10  Lassen,  "  Indische  Alterthumsknnde,"  vol.  iv.  p.  606. 
Wilson,  "Asiatic  Researches,"  xvi.  p.  21. 

11  See  "  Brahmic  Questions  of  the  Day,"  1869,  p.  16. 

12  "  History  of  Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature,"  by  M.  M. 
(2d  ed.),  p.  569. 

13  "  The  Adi  Brahma-Samaj,  Its  Views  and  Principles," 
Calcutta,  1870,  p.  10. 

14  "  A  Brief  History  of  the  Calcutta  Brahma-Samaj, 
1868,"  p.  15. 

15  The  "Indian  Mirror"  (Sept.  10,  1869)  constantly 
treats  of  missionary  efforts  of  various  kinds  in  a  spirit 
which  is  not  only  friendly,  but  even  desirous  of  reciprocal 
sympathy ;  and  hopeful  that  whatever  differences  may  exist 
between  them  (the  missionaries)  and  the  Brahmos,  the  two 
parties  will  heartily  combine  as  brethren  to  exterminate 
idolatry,  and  promote  true  morality  in  India. 

Many  of  our  ministers  and  leading  men,  says  the  "  Indian 
Mirror,"  are  recruited  from  missionary  schools,  which,  by 
affording  religious  education,  prove  more  favorable  to  the 
growth  and  spread  of  Brahmoism  than  Government  schools 
with  Comte  and  Secularism  ("  Indian  Theism,"  by  S.  D. 
Collet,  1870,  p.  22). 

16  "  Life  of  John  Coleridge  Patteson,"  by  C.  M.  Yonge, 
ii.  p.  167. 

17  The  large  body  of  European  and  American  mission- 
aries settled  in  India  bring  their  various  moral  influences 
to  bear  upon  the  country  with  the  greater  force,  because 
they  act  together  with  a  compactness  which  is  but  little  un- 
derstood. Though  belonging  to  various  denominations  of 
Christians,  yet  from  the  nature  of  their  work,  their  isolated 
position,  and  their  long  experience,  they  have  been  led  to 
think  rather  of  the  numerous  questions  on  which  they  agree, 
than  of  those  on  which   they  differ,   and   they   cooperate 


NOTES.  69 

heartily  together.  Localities  are  divided  among  them  by 
friendly  arrangements,  and,  with  a  few  exceptions,  it  is  a 
fixed  rule  among  them  that  they  will  not  interfere  with  each 
other's  converts  and  each  other's  spheres  of  duty.  School 
books,  translations  of  the  Scriptures  and  religious  works, 
prepared  by  various  missions,  are  used  in  common  ;  and 
help  and  improvements  secured  by  one  mission  are  freely 
placed  at  the  command  of  all.  The  large  body  of  mission- 
aries resident  in  each  of  the  presidency  towns  form  mission- 
ary conferences,  hold  periodic  meetings,  and  act  together  on 
public  matters.  They  have  frequently  addressed  the  Indian 
Government  on  important  social  questions  involving  the 
welfare  of  the  native  community,  and  have  suggested  val- 
uable improvements  in  existing  laws.  During  the  past 
twenty  years,  on  five  occasions,  general  conferences  have 
been  held  for  mutual  consultation  respecting  their  mission- 
ary work ;  and  in  January  last,  at  the  latest  of  these  gath- 
erings, at  Allahabad,  121  missionaries  met  together,  belong- 
ing to  twenty  different  societies,  and  including  several  men 
of  long  experience  who  have  been  twenty  years  in  India 
("India,  Progress  and  Condition,"  1873,  p.  124). 


The  Schism  in  the  Brahma-Samaj} 

The  present  position  of  the  two  parties  in  the  Brahma- 
Samaj  is  well  described  by  Eajnarain  Bose  (the  "  Adi 
Brahmo  Samaj,"  Calcutta,  1873,  p.  11).  "  The  particular 
opinions  above  referred  to  can  be  divided  into  two  compre- 
hensive classes  —  conservative  and  progressive.     The  con- 

1  Brahma-Samaj,  the  Church  of  Brahma,  is  the  general  title.  When 
the  schism  took  place,  the  original  Samaj  was  called  Adi  Brahma-Samaj, 
i.  e.,  the  First  Church  of  Brahma,  while  the  progressive  party  under  Keshub 
Chunder  Sen  was  distinguished  by  the  name  of  the  Brahma-Samaj  of  India. 
The  vowels  u  and  o  are  often  the  same  in  Bengali,  and  are  sometimes  used 
for  a. 


70  NOTES. 

servative  Brahmos  are  those  who  are  unwilling  to  push  re- 
ligious and  social  reformation  to  any  great  extreme.  They 
are  of  opinion  that  reformation  should  be  gradual,  the  law 
of  gradual  progress  being  universally  prevalent  in  nature. 
They  also  say  that  the  principle  of  Brahmic  harmony  re- 
quires a  harmonious  discharge  of  all  our  duties,  and  that, 
as  it  is  a  duty  to  take  a  part  in  reformation,  so  there  are 
other  duties  to  perform,  namely,  those  towards  parents  and 
society,  and  that  we  should  harmonize  all  these  duties  as 
much  as  we  can.  However  unsatisfactory  such  arguments 
may  appear  to  a  progressive  Brahmo,  they  are  such  as 
could  not  be  slighted  at  first  sight.  They  are  certainly  such 
as  to  make  the  conservative  Brahmo  think  sincerely  that  he 
is  justified  in  not  pushing  religious  and  social  reformation 
to  any  great  extreme.  The  progressive  Brahmo  cannot 
therefore  call  him  a  hypocrite.  A  union  of  both  the 
conservative  and  the  progressive  elements  in  the  Brahmo 
church  is  necessary  for  its  stability.  The  conservative  ele- 
ment will  prevent  the  progressive  from  spoiling  the  cause 
of  reformation  by  taking  premature  and  abortive  measures 
for  advancing  that  cause  ;  the  progressive  element  will  pre- 
vent the  conservative  from  proving  a  stolid  obstruction  to 
it.  The  conservative  element  will  serve  as  a  link  between 
the  progressive  element  and  the  orthodox  community,  and 
prevent  the  progressive  Brahmo  from  being  completely  es- 
tranged from  that  community,  as  the  native  Christians  are ; 
while  the  progressive  element  will  prevent  the  conservative 
from  remaining  inert  and  being  absorbed  by  the  orthodox 
community.  The  common  interests  of  Brahmo  Dharma 
should  lead  both  classes  to  respect,  and  be  on  amicable 
terms  with,  each  other.  It  is  true  the  progressive  of  the 
present  half  century  will  prove  the  conservative  of  the  next ; 
but  there  could  never  come  a  time  when  the  two  classes 
would  cease  to  exist  in  the  bosom  of  the  church.  She 
should,  like  a  wise  mother,  make  them  live  in  peace  with 
each  other,  and  work  harmoniously  together  for  her  benefit. 


NOTES.  71 

"  As  idolatry  is  intimately  interwoven  with  our  social 
fabric,  conservative  Brahmos,  though  discarding  it  in  other 
respects,  find  it  very  difficult  to  do  so  on  the  occasion  of 
such  very  important  domestic  ceremonies  as  marriage, 
shradh  (ancestral  sacrifices),  and  upanayana  (spiritual  ap- 
prenticing) ;  but  they  should  consider  that  Brahmoism  is 
not  so  imperative  on  any  other  point  as  on  the  renunciation 
of  idolatry.  It  can  allow  conservatism  in  other  respects, 
but  not  on  the  point  of  idolatry.  It  can  consider  a  man  a 
Brahmo  if  he  be  conservative  in  other  respects  than  idol- 
atry ;  but  it  can  never  consider  an  idolater  to  be  a  Brahmo. 
The  conservative  Brahmo  can  do  one  thing,  that  is,  observe 
the  old  ritual,  leaving  out  only  the  idolatrous  portion  of  it, 
if  he  do  not  choose  to  follow  the  positive  Brahmo  ritual 
laid  clown  in  the  Anushthana  Paddliati.  Liberty  should  be 
given  by  the  progressive  Brahmo  to  the  conservative 
Brahmo  in  judging  of  the  idolatrous  character  of  the  por- 
tions of  the  old  ritual  rejected  by  him.  If  a  progressive 
Brahmo  requires  a  conservative  one  to  reject  those  portions 
which  the  former  considers  to  be  idolatrous,  but  the  latter 
does  not,  he  denies  liberty  of  conscience  to  a  fellow- 
Brahmo. 

"  The  Adi  Brahmo-Samaj  is  the  national  Hindu  Theistic 
Church,  whose  principles  of  church  reformation  we  have 
been  describing  above.  Its  demeanor  towards  the  old  re- 
ligion of  the  country  is  friendly,  but  corrective  and  reform- 
ative. It  is  this  circumstance  which  preeminently  distin- 
guishes it  from  the  Brahmo-Samaj  of  India,  whose  attitude 
to  that  religion  is  antagonistic  and  offensive.  The  mission 
of  the  Adi  Samaj  is  to  fulfill  the  old  religion,  and  not  to 
destroy  it.  The  attitude  of  the  Adi  Samaj  to  the  old  re- 
ligion is  friendly,  but  it  is  not  at  the  same  time  opposed  to 
progress.  It  is  a  mistake  to  call  it  a  conservative  church. 
It  is  rather  a  conservative  progressive  church,  or,  more  cor- 
rectly, simply  a  church  or  religious  body,  leaving  matters  of 


72  NOTES. 

social  reformation  to  the  judgments  of  individual  members 
or  bodies  of  such  members.  It  contains  both  progressive 
and  conservative  members.  As  the  ultra-progressive  Brah- 
mos,  who  wanted  to  eliminate  the  conservative  element  from 
it,  were  obliged  to  secede  from  it,  so  if  a  high  conservative 
party  arise  in  its  bosom  which  would  attempt  to  do  violence 
to  the  progressive  element  and  convert  the  church  into  a 
partly  conservative  one,  that  party  also  would  be  obliged  to 
secede  from  it.  Only  men  who  can  be  tolerant  of  each  oth- 
er's opinions,  and  who  can  respect  each  other's  earnest  con- 
victions, progressive  and  conservative,  can  remain  its  mem- 
bers." 

The  strong  national  feeling  of  the  Indian  reformers  finds 
expression  in  the  following  passage  from  "  Brahmic  Ques- 
tions," p.  9  :  — 

"  A  Samaj  is  accessible  to  all.  The  minds  of  the  major- 
ity of  our  countrymen  are  not  deeply  saturated  with  Chris- 
tian sentiments.  What  would  they  think  of  a  Brahmo 
minister  who  would  quote  on  the  Yedi  (altar)  sayings  from 
the  Bible  ?  Would  they  not  from  that  time  conceive  an  in- 
tolerable hatred  towards  Brahmoism  and  everything  Brah- 
mo ?  If  quoting  a  sentence  from  the  Bible  or  Koran  offend 
our  countrymen,  we  shall  not  do  so.  Truth  is  as  catholic 
when  taken  from  the  Sastras  as  from  the  Koran  or  the 
Bible.  True  liberality  consists,  not  in  quoting  texts  from 
the  religious  Scriptures  of  other  nations,  but  in  bringing 
up,  as  we  advance,  the  rear  who  are  groveling  in  ignorance 
and  superstition.  We  certainly  do  not  act  against  the  dic- 
tates of  conscience,  if  we  quote  texts  from  the  Hindu  Sas- 
tras only,  and  not  from  all  the  religious  Scriptures  of  all  the 
countries  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  Moreover,  there  is  not 
a  single  saying  in  the  Scriptures  of  other  nations,  which  has 
not  its  counterpart  in  the  Sastras." 

And  again  in  "  The  Adi  Brahma  Samaj,  Its  Views  and 
Principles,"  p.  1 :  — 


NOTES.  73 

"  The  members  of  the  Adi  Samaj,  aiming  to  diffuse  the 
truths  of  Theism  among  their  own  nation,  the  Hindus,  have 
naturally  adopted  a  Hindu  mode  of  propagation,  just  as  an 
Arab  Theist  would  adopt  an  Arabian  mode  of  propagation, 
and  a  Chinese  Theist  a  Chinese  one.  Such  differences  in 
the  aspect  of  Theism  in  different  countries  must  naturally 
arise  from  the  usual  course  of  things,  but  they  are  adven- 
titious, not  essential,  national,  not  sectarian.  Although 
Brahmoism  is  universal  religion,  it  is  impossible  to  commu- 
nicate a  universal  form  to  it.  It  must  wear  a  particular 
form  in  a  particular  country.  A  so-called  universal  form 
would  make  it  appear  grotesque  and  ridiculous  to  the  nation 
or  religious  denomination  among  whom  it  is  intended  to  be 
propagated,  and  would  not  command  their  veneration.  In 
conformity  with  such  views,  the  Adi  Samaj  has  adopted  a 
Hindu  form  to  propagate  Theism  among  Hindus.  It  has 
therefore  retained  many  innocent  Hindu  usages  and  cus- 
toms, and  has  adopted  a  form  of  divine  service  containing 
passages  extracted  from  the  Hindu  Sastras  only,  a  book  of 
Theistic  texts  containing  selections  from  those  sacred  books 
only,  and  a  ritual  containing  as  much  of  the  ancient  form 
as  could  be  kept  consistently  with  the  dictates  of  con- 
science." 


Extracts  from  Keshub  Chunder  Sen's  Lecture  on  Christ  and 
Christianity,  1870. 

"  Why  have  I  cherished  respect  and  reverence  for  Christ  ? 
....  Why  is  it  that,  though  I  do  not  take  the  name  of 
"  Christian,"  I  still  persevere  in  offering  my  hearty  thanks- 
givings to  Jesus  Christ  ?  There  must  be  something  in  the 
life  and  death  of  Christ,  —  there  must  be  something  in  his 
great  gospel  which  tends  to  bring  comfort  and  light  and 
strength  to  a  heart  heavy-laden  with  iniquity  and  wickedness* 
.  .  .  .  I  studied  Christ  ethically,  nay,  spiritually,  —  and  I 


74  NOTES. 

studied  the  Bible  also  in  the  same  spirit,  and  I  must  ac- 
knowledge candidly  and  sincerely  that  I  owe  a  great  deal 
to  Christ  and  to  the  gospel  of  Christ.  .  .  . 

"My  first  inquiry  was,  What  is  the  creed  taught  in  the 
Bible  ?  .  .  .  Must  I  go  through  all  the  dogmas  and  doc- 
trines which  constitute  Christianity  in  the  eye  of  the  various 
sects,  or  is  there  something  simple  which  I  can  at  once 
grasp  and  turn  to  account? 

"  I  found  Christ  spoke  one  language  and  Christianity  an- 
other. I  went  to  him  prepared  to  hear  what  he  had  to  say, 
and  was  immensely  gratified  when  he  told  me  :  '  Love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  with  all  thy  mind,  with 
all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  strength,  and  love  thy  neigh- 
bor as  thyself ; '  and  then  he  added,  '  This  is  the  whole  law 
and  the  prophets,'  in  other  words,  the  whole  philosophy, 
theology,  and  ethics  of  the  law  and  the  prophets  are  con- 
centrated in  these  two  great  doctrines  of  love  to  God  and 
love  to  man  ;  and  then  elsewhere  he  said,  '  This  do  and  ye 
shall  inherit  everlasting  life.'  ....  If  we  love  God  and 
love  man  we  become  Christ-like,  and  so  attain  everlasting 
life. 

"  Christ  never  demanded  from  me  worship  or  adoration 

that  is  due  to  God,  the  Creator  of  the  Universe He 

places  himself  before  me  as  the  spirit  I  must  imbibe  in  or- 
der to  approach  the  Divine  Father,  as  the  great  Teacher 
and  guide  who  will  lead  me  to  God. 

ft  There  are  some  persons  who  believe  that  if  we  pass 
through  the  ceremony  of  baptism  and  sacrament,  we  shall 
be  accepted  by  God,  but  if  you  accept  baptism  as  an  out- 
ward rite,  you  cannot  thereby  render  your  life  acceptable  to 
God,  for  Christ  wants  something  internal,  a  complete  con- 
version of  the  heart,  a  giving  up  the  yoke  of  mammon  and 
accepting  the  yoke  of  religion,  and  truth,  and  God.  He 
wants  us  to  baptize  our  hearts  not  with  cold  water,  but  with 
the  fire  of  religious  and  spiritual  enthusiasm  ;  he  calls  upon 


NOTES.  75 

us  not  to  go  through  any  outward  rite,  but  to  make  baptism 
a  ceremony  of  the  heart,  a  spiritual  enkindling  of  all  our 
energies,  of  all  our  loftiest  and  most  heavenly  aspirations 
and  activities.  That  is  true  baptism.  So  with  regard  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  Sacrament.  There  are  many  who  eat 
the  bread  and  drink  the  wine  at  the  Sacramental  table,  and 
go  through  the  ceremony  in  the  most  pious  and  fervent 
spirit,  but,  after  all,  what  does  the  real  Sacrament  mean  ? 
If  men  simply  adopt  it  as  a  tribute  of  resjDect  and  honor  to 
Christ,  shall  he  be  satisfied  ?  Shall  they  themselves  be  sat- 
isfied ?  Can  we  look  upon  them  as  Christians  simply  be- 
cause they  have  gone  through  this  rite  regularly  for  twenty 
or  fifty  years  of  their  lives  ?  I  think  not.  Christ  demands 
of  us  absolute  sanctification  and  purification  of  the  heart. 
In  this  matter,  also,  I  see  Christ  on  one  side,  and  Christian 
sects  on  the  other. 

"  What  is  that  bread  which  Christ  asked  his  disciples  to 
eat  ?  what  that  wine  which  he  asked  them  to  taste  ?  Any 
man  who  has  simple  intelligence  in  him,  would  at  once 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  all  this  was  metaphorical,  and 
highly  and  eminently  spiritual.  Now,  are  you  prepared  to 
accept  Christ  simply  as  an  outward  Christ,  an  outward 
teacher,  an  external  atonement  and  propitiation,  or  will  you 
prove  true  to  Christ  by  accepting  his  solemn  injunctions  in 
their  spiritual  importance  and  weight  ?  He  distinctly  says, 
every  follower  of  his  must  eat  his  flesh  and  drink  his  blood. 
If  we  eat,  bread  is  converted  into  strength  and  health,  and 
becomes  the  means  of  prolonging  our  life ;  so,  spiritually, 
if  we  take  truth  into  our  heart,  if  we  put  Christ  into  the 
soul,  we  assimilate  the  spirit  of  Christ  to  our  spiritual  being, 
and  then  we  find  Christ  incorporated  into  our  existence  and 
converted  into  spiritual  strength,  and  health,  and  joy,  and 
blessedness.  Christ  wants  something  that  will  amount  to 
self-sacrifice,  a  casting  away  of  the  old  man  and  a  new 
growth  in  the  heart.     I  thus  draw  a  line  of  demarkation 


76  NOTES. 

between  the  visible  and  outward  Christ  and  the  invisible 
and  inward  Christ,  between  bodily  Christ  and  spiritual 
Christ,  between  the  Christ  of  images  and  pictures,  and  the 
Christ  that  grows  in  the  heart,  between  dead  Christ  and 
living  Christ,  between  Christ  that  lived  and  that  was,  and 
Christ  that  does  live  and  that  is.  .  .  . 

"  To  be  a  Christian  then  is  to  be  Christ-like.  Chris- 
tianity means  becoming  like  Christ,  not  acceptance 
Christ  as  a  proposition  or  as  an  outward  representation,  but 
spiritual  conformity  with  the  life  and  character  of  Christ. 
And  what  is  Christ?  By  Christ  I  understand  one  who 
said,  '  Thy  will  be  done  ; '  and  when  I  talk  of  Christ,  I 
talk  of  that  spirit  of  loyalty  to  God,  that  spirit  of  absolute 
determinedness  and  preparedness  to  say  at  all  times  and  in 
all  circumstances,  '  Thy  will  be  done,  not  mine.'  .  .  . 

"This  prayer  about  forgiving  an  enemy  and  loving  an 
enemy,  this  transcendental  doctrine  of  love  of  man,  is  really 
sweet  to  me,  and  when  I  think  of  that  blessed  Man  of  God, 
crucified  on  the  cross,  and  uttering  those  blessed  words, 
1  Father,  forgive  them,  they  know  not  what  they  do ; '  oh ! 
I  feel  that  I  must  love  that  being,  I  feel  that  there  is  some- 
thing within  me  which  is  touched  by  these  sweet  and  heav- 
enly utterances,  I  feel  that  I  must  love  Christ,  let  Christians 
say  what  they  like  against  me ;  that  Christ  I  must  love,  for 
he  preached  love  for  an  enemy.  .  .  . 

"  When  every  individual  man  becomes  Christian  in  spirit, 
—  repudiate  the  name,  if  you  like,  —  when  every  individual 
man  becomes  as  prayerful  as  Christ  was,  as  loving  and  for- 
giving towards  enemies  as  Christ  was,  as  self-sacrificing  as 
Christ  was,  then  these  little  units,  these  little  individual- 
ities, will  coalesce  and  combine  together  by  the  natural  af- 
finity of  their  hearts ;  and  these  new  creatures,  reformed, 
regenerated,  in  the  child-like  and  Christ-like  spirit  of  devo- 
tion and  faith,  will  feel  drawn  towards  each  other,  and  they 
shall  constitute  a  real  Christian  church,  a  real  Christian  na- 


NOTES.  77 

tion.    Allow  me,  friends,  to  say,  England  is  not  yet  a  Chris- 
tian nation." 


Extracts  from  a  Catechism  issued  by  a  member  of  the  Adi 
Brahmo-Samaj. 

Q.  Who  is  the  deity  of  the  Brahmos  ? 

A.  The  One  True  God,  one  only  without  a  second,  whom 
all  Hindu  Sastras  proclaim. 

Q.  What  is  the  divine  worship  of  the  Brahmos  ? 

A.  Loving  God,  and  doing  the  works  He  loveth. 

Q.  What  is  the  temple  of  the  Brahmos  ? 

A.  The  pure  heart. 

Q.  What  are  the  ceremonial  observances  of  the  Brahmos  ? 

A.  Good  works. 

Q.  What  is  the  sacrifice  of  the  Brahmos  ? 

A.  Renunciation  of  selfishness. 
Q.  What  are  the  austerities  of  the  Brahmos  ? 

A.  Not  committing  sin.  The  Mahabharata  says,  He  who 
does  not  commit  sin  in  mind,  speech,  action,  or  understand- 
ing, performs  austerities ;  not  he  who  drieth  up  his  body. 

Q.  What  is  the  place  of  pilgrimage  of  the  Brahmos  ? 

A.  The  company  of  the  good. 

Q.  What  is  the  Veda  of  the  Brahmos  ? 

A.  Divine  knowledge.  It  is  superior  to  all  Veclas.  The 
Veda  itself  says :  The  inferior  knowledge  is  the  Rig  Veda, 
the  Yajur  Veda,  the  Sama  Veda,  the  Atharva  Veda,  etc. ; 
the  superior  knowledge  is  that  which  treats  of  God. 

Q.  What  is  the  most  sacred  formula  of  the  Brahmos  ? 

A.  Be  good  and  do  good. 

Q.  Who  is  the  true  Brahman  ? 

A.  He  who  knows  Brahma.  The  Brihadaranyaka-Upani- 
shad  says :  He  who  departs  from  this  world  knowing  God, 
is  a  Brahman.  (See  "  Brahmic  Questions  of  the  Day,'' 
1869). 


EDINBURGH  REVIEW.  —  "  The  BEST  History  of  the  Roman  Republic." 
LONDON  TIMES. -"BY  FAR   THE  BEST  History  of  the  Decline  and  1  .ifi 
of  the  Roman  Commonwealth." 


THE 


sStetort)  of  &ome, 

FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIME  TO  THE  PERIOD  OF  ITS  DECLINE. 

By  Dr.  THEODOK  MOMMSEff. 

Translated,  with  the  author's  sanction  and  additions,  by  the  Rev.  \V.  P.  Dicksok,  Regiut 
Professor  of  Biblical  Criticism  in  the  University  of  Glasgow,  late  Classical  Examiner  ir 
the  University  of  St.  Andrews.  With  an  Introduction  by  Dr.  Leonhard  Schmitz,  and 
a  copious  Index  of  the  whole  four  volumes,  prepared  especially  for  this  edition. 

REPRINTED  FROM  THE  REVISED  LONDON  EDITION 

Four  Volumes  crown  8vo.  Price  per  volume,  $2.00. 


Dr.  Mommsen  has  long  been  known  and  appreciated  through  his  researches 
into  the  languages,  laws,  and  institutions  of  Ancient  Rome  and  Italy,  as 
the  most  thoroughly  versed  scholar  now  living  in  these  departments  of  his- 
torical investigation.  To  a  wonderfully  exact  and  exhaustive  knowledge  of 
these  subjects,  he  unites  great  powers  of  generalization,  a  vigorous,  spirited. 
and  exceedingly  graphic  style  and  keen  analytical  powers,  which  give  this 
history  a  degree  of  interest  and  a  permanent  value  possessed  by  no  other 
record  of  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman  Commonwealth.  "  Dr. 
Mommsen's  work,"  as  Dr.  Schmitz  remarks  in  the  introduction,  "though 
the  production  of  a  man  of  most  profound  and  extensive  learning  and 
knowledge  of  the  world,  is  not  as  much  designed  for  the  professional 
scholar  as  for  intelligent  readers  of  all  classes  who  take  an  interest  in  the  his- 
tory of  by-gone  ages,  and  are  inclined  there  to  seek  information  that  may 
guide  them  safely  through  the  perplexing  mazes  of  modern  history." 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

"  A.  work  of  the  very  highest  merit ;  its  learning  is  exact  and  profound  ;  its  narrative  full 
,\f  gsnius  and  skill ,  its  descriptions  of  men  are  admirably  vivid.  We  wish  to  place  on 
nscord  our  opinion  that  Dr.  Mommsen's  is  by  far  the  best  history  of  the  Decline  and  FaD 
of  the  Roman  Commonwealth." — London  Times. 

s'  Since  the  days  of  Niebuhr,  no  work  on  Roman  History  has  appeared  that  combines  sc 
much  to  attract,  instruct,  and  charm  the  reader.  Its  style — a  rare  quality  in  a  German  au- 
thor— is  vigorous,  spirited,  and  animated.  Professor  Mommsen's  work  can  stand  a  com- 
parison with  the  noblest  productions  of  modern  history." — Dr.  Schmitz. 

"This  is  the  best  history  of  the  Roman  Republic,  taking  the  work  on  the  whole—  th-; 
iuthor's  complete  mastery  of  his  subject,  the  variety  of  his  gifts  and  acquirements,  hi» 
graphic  power  in  the  delineation  of  national  and  individual  character,  and  the  vivid  inter**'. 
♦  hich  he  inspires  in  every  portion  of  his  book.     He  is  without  an  eaual  in  his  own  Bpher* ." 

Edinburgh  Review. 

H  A  book  of  deepest  interest" — Dean  Trench. 


ANOTHER  GREAT  HISTORICAL  WORK. 


©|f  Xjfisforg  of  CjwrF, 

By  Prof.  Dr.  ERNST  CURTIUS. 

Translated  by  ADOLPHUS  WILLIAM  WARD,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  St.  Peter's 
College,  Cambridge,  Prof,  of  History  in  Owen's  College,  Manchester. 

To  be  completed  in  four  or  five  vols.,  crown  8vo,  at  $2.50  per  volume* 

Printed  upon  Tinted  Paper,  Uniform  with  Mommsen's  History  of  Rome,  and  thk 
Library  Edition  of  Froude's  History  of  England. 

VOLS.    I.,    II.,    AND    III.,    NOW    READY. 


Curtius'  History  of  Greece  is  similar  in  plan  and  purpose  to  Mommsen's  History  of 
Rome,  with  which  it  deserves  to  rank  in  every-  respect  as  one  of  the  great  masterpieces  of 
historical  literature.  Avoiding  the  minute  details  which  overburden  other  similar  works, 
it  groups  together  in  a  very  picturesque  manner  all  the  important  events  in  the  history  of 
this  kingdom,  which  has  exercised  such  a  wonderful  influence  upon  the  world's  civilization. 
The  narrative  of  Prof.  Curtius'  work  is  flowing  and  animated,  and  the  generalizations, 
although  bold,  are  philosophical  and  sound. 


CRITICAL  NOTICES. 


"  Professor  Curtius'  eminent  scholarship  is  a  sufficent  guarantee  for  the  trustworthiness  of 
his  history,  while  the  skill  with  which  he  groups  his  facts,  and  his  effective  mode  of  narrating 
them.,  combine  to  render  it  no  less  readable  than  sound.  Professor  Curtius  everywhere  main- 
tains the  true  dignity  and  impartiality  of  history,  and  it  is  evident  his  sympathies  are  on 
the  side  of  justice,  humanity,  and  progress." — London  Athencewn. 

"We  can  not  express  our  opinion  of  Dr.  Curtius'  book  better  than  by  saying  that  it  may 
be  fitly  ranked  with  Theodor  Mommsen's  great  work. " — London  Spectator. 

"As  an  introduction  to  the  study  of  Grecian  history,  no  previous  work  is  comparable  to 
the  present  for  vivacity  and  picturesque  beauty,  while  in  sound  learning  and  accuracy  of 
statement  it  is  not  inferior  to  the  elaborate  productions  which  enrich  the  literature  of  the 
age." — N.  Y.  Daily  Tribune. 

"  The  History  of  Greece  is  treated  by  Dr.  Curtius  so  broadly  and  freely  in  the  spirit  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  that  it  becomes  in  his  hands  one  of  the  worthiest  and  most  instructive 
branches  of  study  for  all  v/ho  desire  something  more  than  a  knowledge  of  isolated  facts  for 
their  education.  This  translation  ought  to  become  a  regular  part  ot  the  accepted  course 
of  reading  for  young  men  at  college,  and  for  all  who  are  in  training  for  the  free  political 
life  of  our  country." — N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

This  book  sent  post-paid,  upon  receipt  of  the  price,  by  the  Publishers, 

SCRIBNER,  ARMSTRONG  &  CO., 

654  Broadway,  New  Y01*/'-' 


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